Ward delimitation sparks political churn ahead of Panchkula municipal polls

Panchkula: The proposed reorganisation of municipal wards in Panchkula has triggered early political turbulence, with leaders across parties reassessing their electoral strategies ahead of the civic polls scheduled for early next year.

The draft report prepared by the ward delimitation committee, released a few days ago, has altered ground realities and upset long-set equations of several aspirants preparing for the municipal elections. The current term of the mayor and councillors of the Panchkula MC will end on January 5, 2026. In the meantime, the delimitation committee has redrawn boundaries of all 20 wards, aiming to bring balance in voter strength across wards.

As per the proposal, the number of voters per ward has been rationalised, with figures ranging from approximately 8,500 to 11,000 voters, compared to wide disparities earlier. The political stakes are high, especially with a direct contest expected between the BJP and the Congress. In the December 2020 municipal elections, the BJP won nine wards, Congress seven, JJP two, and two seats were secured by Independent candidates. At that time, the BJP and JJP were alliance partners at the state level, while the two Independents later joined the BJP and Congress, respectively. The mayor's post is currently held by BJP's Kulbhushan Goyal.

The ULB department will now invite objections from the public on the draft ward plan. Citizens will be given one month to file objections, after which the ward boundaries will be finalised. The Congress, which returned to power in the recent Assembly elections and appeared confident of a strong performance in the municipal polls, is now facing fresh challenges due to the changed ward equations. While the party made inroads into the BJP-dominated sectors during the Assembly elections, the revised ward structure has forced leaders to rethink their strategies.

Similarly, the BJP, which has been making sustained efforts over the past year to regain its footing after the Assembly setbacks, finds the expanded and restructured wards adding to internal complexities. Several BJP leaders, who already began outreach campaigns in sectors 23, 24, and 25, are now affected by changes in ward composition and reservation status.

Under the new proposal, wards 7 and 17 have been reserved for the Backward Class category. Ward 17, which now includes parts of rural areas along with sectors 23, 24, and 25, has become reserved for Backward Classes, impacting nearly half a dozen BJP aspirants, who were preparing to contest from the area. In another significant development, Ward 19, currently represented by Congress councillor and Leader of Opposition Salim Dabkouri, has been reserved for Backward Class-A. Dabkouri was earlier elected from Ward 20, and with Dabkouri village now merged into Ward 19, his political options have narrowed. Ward 20 has been reserved for Backward Class-B, leaving him the choice to contest from the newly reserved ward, if he so decides.

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has alleged large-scale violations of rules and questioned the very existence of the municipal corporation. JJP district president OP Sihag alleged delimitation process, claiming that norms and legal provisions were "openly ignored" by the ad-hoc committee. Raising serious concerns over population data, Sihag alleged while populations across the world were increasing, Panchkula's population has surprisingly shown a decline in official figures.

"Established principles of ward delimitation were ignored and distant and disconnected areas were clubbed together under external pressure, instead of including geographically contiguous areas in a single ward. For example, Ward No. 2, where MDC Sector 5 has been combined with Sector 2 and Majri village, and Ward No. 14, which includes Maheshpur, half of Sector-21, part of Fatehpur and half of the societies in Sector 20. Similar ward irregularities exist in several other wards too," he alleged.

Deputy commissioner and chairman of the ad hoc committee Satpal Sharma recently finalised the ward delimitation exercise, making Panchkula the first district in the state to complete the ward delimitation process for the upcoming municipal elections.

Know your proposed ward:

Ward No. 1 includes Saketri, Bhainsa Tibba, and MDC Sectors 4 and 6, while Ward No. 2 covers MDC Sector 5, Sector 6, and Majri village. Wards 3 and 4 comprise Sectors 7 & 8 and Sectors 9 & 10 respectively. Ward No. 5 includes Sector 15, while Ward No. 6 covers Sectors 16, 17, and 18. Ward No. 7 consists of Rajiv Colony, and Ward No. 8 includes Indira Colony and Budhanpur.

Ward No. 9 covers Sector 19 and Industrial Area Phase-II, while Ward No. 10 includes Abheypur, Sector 14, and Industrial Area Phase-I. Ward No. 11 comprises Sectors 12 and 12A along with Rally village, and Ward No. 12 includes Sector 11, part of Sector 4, and Haripur. Ward No. 13 consists of part of Sector 4, half of Sector 21, and Devnagar.

Ward No. 14 includes Maheshpur, Madrasi Colony, societies near Fatehpur in Sector 20, and half of Sector 21, while Ward No. 15 covers Kundli, half of Fatehpur, and half of Sector 20. Ward No. 16 includes Chandi Kotla, Beed Ghaggar, and Khadak Mangoli. Ward No. 17 covers part of Khadag Mangoli, Chainki village, sectors 23, 24, and 25, along with Naggal Moginand and Nada.

Ward No. 18 includes Bana, Madanpur, and sectors 26, 27, and 28. Ward No. 19 covers Ramgarh, Billa, Jaswantgarh, Dabkouri, Mankya, and Bhanu, while Ward No. 20 includes Kot, Khangsera, Toka, Alipur, Sukh Darshanpur, Naggal, Jalauli, and Khatauli.