Opinion The MCD bill is about control over Delhi, not improving city’s governance
Atishi writes: The Centre's decision to unify Delhi municipalities only postpones the MCD elections to a time when the BJP would have better electoral prospects
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill (2022), was tabled in the Lok Sabha on March 25. This bill can be described as underwhelming at best. (File) 
-
Share -
-
-
On March 9, the State Election Commission (SEC) sent an official invite for a press conference at 5 pm to announce the dates for the upcoming MCD elections. The very same day, the SEC received a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs that the Centre was planning to unify the three MCDs and therefore the announcement should be postponed. This letter was followed by a slew of media stories and interactions with BJP leaders. Many reports speculated about a series of reforms that would be a part of the bill; these included the possibility of direct mayoral elections, direct transfer of funds from the Centre to the local bodies and how an empowered cabinet-like structure would be created to do away with the obsolete structure of standing committees.
It is a fact that the highest amount of fund transfers to MCDs was done under AAP’s tenure. Data for the past few years show that funds given to MCD by the Government of Delhi in 2010-11 under Congress rule was Rs 1,465 crore, in 2014-15 it was Rs 4,380 crore under the President’s Rule and in 2021-22 it was Rs 6,172 crore under AAP. Contrary to this data, the BJP ruled MCD has claimed that the current financial crisis of the municipalities has been caused because of the Government of Delhi. Therefore, the expectation from the new bill was that it would also provide greater financial support to these MCDs. It was also speculated that the number of wards might be increased as the voting population of each municipal ward is between 60,000-70,000 voters, which is bigger than assembly constituencies in some of the smaller states.
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill (2022), was tabled in the Lok Sabha on March 25. This bill can be described as underwhelming at best. The bill contains none of the speculated reforms. It proposes only three changes in the governance structure of the municipal corporations. First. it unifies all three MCDs — north, south and east — into one single Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Second, it reduces the number of wards from 272 to 250. Third, it has a provision for creating a viceroy like structure, a “special officer” who will be responsible for running the government until the next election is held.
It is clear that this bill doesn’t bring any substantive governance, administrative or financial reforms in the MCD. The only thing it effectively does is to indefinitely postpone the MCD elections. The reduction in the number of wards from 272 to 250, means that the population per ward will broadly remain the same. However, to change the number of wards, delimitation will be required. The previous delimitation which had taken place before the 2017 MCD election had taken approximately 18 months. Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the elections might get postponed by 16 to 18 months. It is also noteworthy that unlike the previous bill that clearly specified which year’s census should be used to carry out the delimitation exercise, the current bill is silent on the use of specific census data which gives scope for further postponement of MCD elections if the government decides to use the 2023 Census data for delimitation. During this period, the MCD will be ruled by a nominated “special officer” instead of democratically elected representatives. This is akin to introducing a President’s Rule in a state.
This also raises a question on the agency of an autonomous body such as the Election Commission, whose prima facie job is to ensure free and fair elections in the country. The body has become a puppet in the hands of the central government.
It is difficult to find one substantial change in the bill that could be considered as a rationale to introduce it at this time. It is also pertinent to ask that if unification is like a silver bullet to all of MCD’s problems then why wasn’t it done in the more than seven years the BJP has been in power at the Centre? Why was it proposed on the day of the announcement of the election date? The bill does not solve any policy problems related to governance in Delhi. It only seems to work for the postponement of MCD elections.
In the 15 years of the BJP’s rule, rampant corruption and three garbage mountains at the entrance of Delhi have become a hallmark of its MCD tenure. From the dilapidated conditions of government hospitals to selling away government property at throwaway prices, the BJP ruled MCD has failed to deliver on any of the areas that come under its prerogative. There exists a strong sentiment across Delhi to remove the BJP from the municipal corporations and elect AAP. Therefore, the BJP wants to postpone the elections to a time when they would have better electoral prospects. This is what makes the bill so dangerous. Today, the MCD elections are being postponed. Tomorrow, if the BJP is losing the Gujarat elections scheduled in the month of December, can they not bring a bill to unify Gujarat and Maharashtra and thereby postpone the elections? In the future if the BJP is losing the parliamentary elections, they may even propose an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, (1951) and bring the entire country under the rule of a non-democratically nominated administrator. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill could be the beginning of a vicious cycle of abuse of power by the central government, which, if not opposed now, could lead to a situation where the elections in this country will be held at the behest of the ruling party.
This column first appeared in the print edition on March 29, 2022 under the title ‘A bid to control’. The writer is an MLA from Delhi and a senior leader of Aam Aadmi Party.
-
Share
-
-
-
Share
