Kerala Governor Khan returns Ordinance on ward delimitation for local body polls; cites election code
The Kerala government proposed ordinances to amend the Kerala Panchayati Raj and Kerala Municipality Act of 1994, aiming to redefine ward boundaries based on the 2011 population survey due to the absence of the 2021 census.
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FollowThiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan returned two ordinances on Wednesday (May 22) that sought to add one ward to each local body ahead of the scheduled December 2025 elections. The Raj Bhavan handed back the ordinance to the chief secretary, stating that they needed approval from the Election Commission due to the existing code of conduct.
The ordinances aimed to amend the Kerala Panchayati Raj and Kerala Municipality Act of 1994. They proposed the demarcation of wards and boundaries in each local body based on the 2011 population survey, as the 2021 census was not conducted.
The state government has committed to completing the process within a year. Elections are scheduled for December 2025, during which new local representatives will be elected based on the newly defined wards.
Following delimitation, gram panchayats will have a minimum of 14 wards instead of 13 and a maximum of 24 wards. District panchayats will see the minimum number of divisions increased to 17 from the current 16, with a maximum of 33 divisions instead of 32. In municipalities, the minimum number of wards will rise to 26, while the maximum will be 53. Similarly, in Corporations, the minimum and maximum number of wards will increase from 55 to 56 and from 100 to 101, respectively, upon the promulgation of the Ordinance.
Across the state, there are currently 15,962 wards in 941 gram panchayats. Additionally, there are 3,078 wards in 87 municipalities and 414 wards in six corporations. Currently, there are a total of 21,865 people's representatives serving in 1,200 local self-government bodies. Following the delimitation process, there will be an additional 1,200 local representatives.
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