The fate of 85 municipal wards under Bhopal Municipal Corporation was decided on Thursday with the completion of ward reservation process.
Following this, several senior BJP and Congress leaders are left with no choice that to contest municipal elections from other wards. The leaders including former chairperson, former leader of opposition and ex-members of Mayor-in-Council (MiC) have lost wards they represented after the reservation. They will have to contest from different wards now.
There were 10 MiC members in the previous council. As their wards have been reserved under a different category, four of them have opted not to contest the civic elections. The remaining six MiC members are seeking ticket from different wards. For instance, former chairperson Surjeet Singh Chouhan represented ward number 51 that has been reserved for woman under general category. It is not clear whether he will contest this time.
Ex-MiC members Kewal Mishra, Krishna Mohan Soni, Mahesh Makwana, Dinesh Yadav, Bhupendra Mali and Shankar Makoria will seek tickets from other wards. Similarly, Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the council Mohammad Sageer too will have to contest from another ward. The ward he represented is now reserved for woman candidate. Former MiC members Surendra Wadika, Manoj Choubey, Asha Jain and Manjushree Barikia have decided not to contest elections.
Congress party leaders like Guddu Chouhan, Amit Sharma and Pradeep Monu Saxena too will not be able to contest from their wards. There are chances that they may not contest this year. Chouhan said he will ensure his wife gets party ticket for his ward now reserved for woman candidate. When contacted, Monu Saxena said the party has to decide whether he should get the ticket as the ward he represented is now reserved for an OBC woman candidate.
50 wards reserved for general category
The total number of wards reserved for general candidates is 50 out of which
24 are for women candidates from general category. The total number of SC wards is 12 out of which 6 are reserved for woman candidates. Twenty one wards have been reserved for OBC category. Of them, 11 wards are for women. Two wards have been reserved ST of which 1 is reserved for woman.
The ward number 1, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 15, 19, 22, 24, 29, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 54, 55, 62, 66, 69, 70, 73, 78 are open for general category candidates. Ward number 2, 3, 7, 14, 17, 20, 21, 32, 33, 35, 38, 43, 46, 51, 52, 56, 64, 68, 71, 74,75,79, 84 and 85 have been reserved for women under general category.
Municipal ward number 8, 23, 27, 31, 37, 45, 61, 65, 67, 80 and 82 have been reserved for women under OBC category. Ward number 9, 16, 18, 25, 30, 36, 57, 72, 77, 83 have been reserved for any candidate under OBC category. Ward number 10, 11, 47, 50, 59 and 81 have been reserved for women under SC category. Ward number 26 is reserved for woman under ST category and ward number 60 is reserved for any ST candidate. Ward numbers 28, 48, 49 53, 63 and 76 have been reserved for any candidate under the SC category.
