The elections for 250 seats(wards) of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are taking place today.
The results will be announced on December 7, 2022. The elections of Delhi MCD are conducted by Delhi State Election Commission.Â
Unification of MCD
The central government tabled Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in Loksabha in March this year. This bill sought to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, of 1957 passed by Parliament. MCD used be unified until 2012 and the erstwhile Delhi government trifurcated it into three civic bodies for better administration: 1) North Delhi Municipal Corporation, 2) South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and 3) East Delhi Municipal Corporation. This bill of 2022 sought to unify all three MCDs and create one unified Delhi MCD. The bill became act after getting passed by Parliament and the new unified MCD came into force in May this year.
Why three civic bodies have been unified?
The trifurcation of the unified Delhi MCD in 2012 didn’t bring desired results. For example, the three civic bodies were facing problems of unequal resource distribution, wage-related issues, frequent strikes by employees, financial difficulties, etc. Therefore, the current Central Government felt the need to unify the three civic bodies into one MCD.Â
Benefits of unified MCD
In the opinion of Yogendra Singh Mann, a former director of the North MCD, the unified MCD would lead to a balance of resources, expenses, and income apart from solving other issues. There will be uniformity in one MCD. Earlier, employees were unable to get their salaries on time and had to wait for months.
What has changed after the unification?
The boundaries of all three previous civic bodies stand ended and there’s only MCD now. It’s important to note that two small pockets of Delhi still have their separate municipal bodies: New Delhi Municipal Council which primarily covers the Lutyens’ Delhi and Delhi Cantonment Board which manages the cantonment area. But, these two bodies are only 4% of Delhi, and therefore, 96% of Delhi is under a unified MCD now. The working has, obviously, changed as only one Delhi MCD is operational now.Â
Before unification, Delhi was divided into 272 wards but after the notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the total wards have been reduced to 250 after unification. Out of 250 wards, 42 are reserved for SC candidates, 21 for women SC candidates, and 104 wards are reserved for women candidates.
| PARTY | SEATS WON(Total: 272) |
| BJP | 181 |
| AAP | 49 |
| CONGRESS | 31 |
| BSP | 3 |
| OTHERS | 6 |
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What is the work of MCD?
One may wonder what’s the work of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). People may get confused between the working of MCD and the Delhi Government, but there’s a big difference. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has to work on the following areas:
Health: It includes promoting health care and taking steps to ensure the prevention of diseases.Â
Education: Education department has to ensure the proper functioning of primary schools and build education infrastructure.
Engineering: Construction and maintenance of public infrastructures such as roads, over-bridges, public toilets, and public transportation is also taken care of by MCD. Making sure buildings are constructed as per the guidelines set by it.
Waste management: It includes a collection of garbage from each house and collection sites in the city. MCD has also to remove any encroachment on the roads.Â
The other works of MCD include taking care of the water supply, managing the drainage system, developing slum areas, and maintaining parks, libraries, street lights, and parking areas. The MCD works for collecting property, professional, and toll tax as well as running cremation grounds and maintaining records of births and deaths. The MCD is entrusted with running some small dispensaries and hospitals.
