Amit Shah to table bill proposing reunification of three civic bodies of Delhi in Lok Sabha today

Union Parliament (File Image)

Union home minister Amit Shah will table the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha today during the ongoing Parliament session.

The bill, approved by the cabinet on March 22, proposes to merge the three municipal corporations of Delhi – North, East and South. The reunified municipal corporation will be referred to as Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

READ : Reunification of Delhi’s municipal corporations: The background, the impact and the politics

The bill has been listed in the Legislative Business of the Lok Sabha today.

The merger of three MCDs will alter power equations between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which rules the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in the three civic bodies.

A unified municipal corporation will be eligible to get funds from the Centre instead of depending on the Delhi government, according to reports. Funding, or the lack of it, has been a bone of contention between AAP and BJP.

The North, East and South civic bodies of Delhi used to be one – the MCD - until 2012. The then Congress government of Delhi led by the late Sheila Dikshit decided to trifurcate MCD. The North and South corporations have 104 wards each, while the East corporation has 64 wards.

A unified MCD will likely alter the political dynamics in the national capital. Administrative efficiency, as claimed by the BJP, apart, one mayor of a municipal corporation could be in a more powerful position to take on the Delhi chief minister than three mayors.

Also, read | We will leave politics if BJP gets MCD polls held timely and wins it: Arvind Kejriwal

The move triggered a war of words between the two parties. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP claimed the BJP was scared of losing the Delhi municipal elections, which were due in mid-April and had been deferred on March 9. The BJP leaders said the unification of the municipal bodies will help resolve their financial issues.

AAP won the Delhi assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, securing more than 60 of the 70 seats each time. Earlier this month, the party was voted to power in neighbouring Punjab.

Elections to Delhi’s three municipal corporations are held every five years and the last one was conducted in April 2017.

The proposed legislation seeks to cap the number of seats in the unified MCD at 250, with the Centre empowered to decide the exact number. It is also expected to fix the number of seats to be reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and will be empowered to undertake changes subsequently.

The legislation provides for powers to be exercised by the Centre as Delhi is a Union Territory, according to reports.