The President has given his approval to the reunification of Delhi's municipal corporations.
The law to reunify Delhi's three municipal corporations has been approved by India's President. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will now be re-unified with the passage of the three current civic organizations.
As a result, the number of wards might be lowered from 272 to 250. On March 30, the Lok Sabha passed the bill.
The united entity could be called the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and all of the SDMC, EDMC, and NDMC's liabilities, staff, and revenue sources will be transferred to the MCD in the near future.
The Centre cited "growing financial challenges of the three Municipal Corporations in Delhi" due to the trifurcation as one of the reasons for reunification. The MCDs were apparently "incapable of making timely payment of salary and retirement benefits to their employees" due to financial limitations.
The MCD reunification law aimed to:
- combine the three municipal corporations into a single, integrated, and well-equipped institution
- establish a reliable framework for resource allocation.
- Increase openness, governance, and accountability.
- Efficient civic service delivery
The delimitation procedure is expected to begin soon now that the MCD bill has gotten the President's approval. The 2022 MCD election will be held once the delimitation process has been completed and official notification has been issued.
The bill had forced the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to postpone elections that were slated to take place in April, and it had sparked a political spat between the two parties (BJP).
After receiving a communication from Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, the Delhi State Election Commission postponed the announcement of the civic election schedule, stating that the Centre intends to introduce a Bill in the Budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi.