Delimitation alters Ahmedabad municipal corporation poll prospects

For corporators in the city, it  is time for some serious calculations. With the delimitation for the upcoming civic body elections having been announced, most of them are busy deducing how many votes they stand to gain or lose.

In all, 16 corporators have been directly affected by the
delimitation. They include mayor Kanaji Thakore, deputy mayor Kalpanaben Bhatt and leader of BJP in the AMC, Dr Kamlesh Patel. In several wards, one of three seats is a reserved one. Hence, one of the corporators of the general category will not be able to contest.

In the Madhupura ward, one of the two seats for male candidates has been reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate. This means that mayor Kanaji Thakore is likely to contest on the general seat, making it impossible for AMTS chairman Pravin Patel to also contest from Madhupura.
Similarly, Kalpanaben Bhatt has been representing the Naroda Muthia ward at present.

However, in the draft delimitation notification, the only reserved seat for women has been assigned to an SC candidate, meaning
that Kalpanaben can no longer contest from the seat.
However, many residential societies of the present Naroda Muthia ward have now been included in the newly created Nobelnagar ward. So there are chances that Bhatt may now contest from Nobelnagar, said sources.

Similar are the cases of Biraj Surti from Khadia, and Kalpanaben Raval from Vasna.

In the Sardar Patel stadium ward, one of the two seats for male candidates is reserved for an SC candidate. So, either Kamlesh Patel or Jatin Shah will be able to contest from this seat. Same is the case in the Navrangpura ward, where the contest within the BJP will be between Anil Patel and Praful Raval.

In the same way, reservation may affect Hemakshu Patel or
RD Desai in the Nava Vadaj ward, Dakshesh Mehta or Naresh Rabari in Isanpur, and Imran Khedawala or Yusuf Saiyad in Jamalpur.

Interestingly, Congress corporator Pravin Parmar, who was elected from the Juna Vadaj ward in February 2010 through a by-election, will not be able to contest from the ward. As per the delimitation draft, out of two seats for male candidates, one is for the general category, and another is for backward class candidates. Parmar belongs to the scheduled caste category. 

The present wards of Gandhigram, Potalia and Bagefirdosh have been cancelled and the areas falling under these wards have been divided to form new ones. However, these corporators may get a chance to contest from new wards or adjoining ones.
BJP corporators are also concerned over the 'no repetition' theory followed by the party, as per which, a corporator may not be allowed to contest the election from the same ward again.

However, political parties believe that expressing their views on this issue at the moment, will be premature. "This is not the final delimitation.

The state election commission may make changes, taking
into consideration the suggestions and objections received from all stake holders," said Pravin Patel, general secretary of the city wing of the BJP.