Kerala Guv returns ordinance on ward delimitation for local body polls

Kerala Guv returns ordinance on ward delimitation for local body polls

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Wednesday returned two ordinances that aimed to add one ward to each local body ahead of the elections scheduled for December 2025.

Returning the ordinance introduced by the government to the chief secretary, Raj Bhavan said they required approval from the Election Commission due to the existing code of conduct.

With this, the government may approach the Election Commission, seeking permission for the Ordinance .A special cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to issue ordinances for ward re-division.

The ordinances sought 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.

Following delimitation, gram panchayats will have a minimum of 14 wards instead of 13 and a maximum of 24 wards.As for district panchayats, the minimum number of divisions will be 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.

In 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.