High Court seeks delimitation stand on wards in GHMC area

Hyderabad: Justice Ramesh Ranganathan of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Telangana government and the GHMC to spell out their stand on a writ petition seeking fresh delimitation of wards in GHMC area and equitable distribution of voters in all wards.

The judge was dealing with the petition by senior BJP leader Karunakar and three others stating that the rules prescribe GHMC be divided into 150 wards and the population in each ward shall not vary beyond 15 per cent of the average.

They submitted that as per 2011 Census, the population in GHMC is 67,31,790 and as per rule, each ward shall have 44,000 people with 15 per cent variation.
They said that in one ward, there are 17,000 voters, whereas there are several wards which have more than 70,000 voters and in some wards there are 90,000 voters.

The petitioners told the court that the GHMC has been releasing Rs1 crore to the each ward to provide civic amenities. As there was a huge population in some wards, residents of majority wards are losing benefits from civil works.

They urged the court to direct authorities for fresh delimitation of wards and distribute the population as per rules. While issuing notices, the judge directed the respondents to spell out their stand prior to August 5.