NewsGate Press Network

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday the 19th of April 2022 gave his assent to the merger of three Municipal Corporations in Delhi into one entity.

Formal notification in the Gazette of India has been done.

Under the new Act, the three erstwhile MCDs—East Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal Corporation are now merged and will be called the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

All the liabilities, employees, and revenue sources of the three corporations will soon be transferred to the MCD.

The Act also gives the Central Government the control over MCD by replacing the word ‘government’ with ‘central government’ in the Act, and also provides for a fresh delimitation exercise.

The number of seats will be brought down to 250 from present 272. It also provides for appointment of a ‘Special Officer’ to head the corporation until new representatives are elected.

The Delhi Election Commission was to announce the date for municipal elections on March 9. However, at the press conference, State Election Commissioner of Delhi, S K Srivastava, said the dates will be announced in the next few days stating they have received a communication from the Central government at 4.30 pm on the issue of merger of the corporations.

The polls were deferred and the Bill for unification of the municipal corporations was introduced and passed in recently concluded Budget Session of the Parliament even as several opposition parties pointed fingers at the ruling BJP of running away from polls fearing loss at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is currently in power at the Old Secretariat, the HQs of the Delhi Government.