PANJIM: Directorate of Panchayats on Wednesday re-started the process of delimitation of wards in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections and said that dates for polls shall be announced only after completing the process of delimitation.
Speaking to Herald, Panchayats Director Gurudas Pilarnkar said, “Today we have re-started the process of delimitation of wards. There are 20 wards in which delimitation needs to be done as the number of wards has increased due to the rise in population. Once the process of delimitation has finished, dates for polls shall be announced.”
He added, “According to me there will be no delay or change in dates for the polls. The delimitation process was kept on hold after some people raised objections and I had left it to the new government. It is a lengthy process, we have to see each and every house and classify them in the wards which are in large numbers. The department had not actually commenced the process of delimitation of the wards but had started the process of distributing the voters in the wards of the panchayat,” Pilarnkar said.
He further said that the process of reservation of wards will be taken up after wards are delimited and the department shall identify settlements of scheduled castes as result of which wards could be reserved for the community for the Panchayat elections. A final decision on the election date will be taken by the government.
