Thiruvananthapuram: There will be more elected representatives at the grassroots when the next local body elections are held in Kerala in 2020. The Kerala government has decided to increase the number of seats by one at all local self-government bodies in the state. The Council of Ministers has given nod to the move that is set to alter the current demarcation of wards - the basic territorial constituencies - that are represented by elected representatives.
A recommendation would be submitted to the Governor to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Kerala Panchayati Raj (KPR) Act and the Kerala Municipality Act so that the number could be increased.
The amendment to formalise the increase in the number of members in civic bodies would be applicable to all grama, block and district panchayats as well as the urban bodies municipalities and corporations. For this, the local wards and divisions would be re-evaluated.
According to the government, the disparity in the ratio of population and the number of seats should be reduced for better governance. The number of wards in the local bodies, that were determined using the 2001 census, needs to be revised as per the 2011 census.
Currently, the number of grama panchayat members should not be less than 13 or more than 23. The ordinance proposes to make this 14-24. The number of block panchayat members would also increase in this manner.
Currently, the number of district panchayat members should not be less than 16 or more than 32. It has been recommended to make this 17-33.
The current strength of the members at the municipality would be increased from 25-52 to 26-53. The number of corporation members would be raised from 55-100 to 56-101.
The 1,200 local self-governing bodies in Kerala include 941 Grama Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 87 Municipalities and 6 Corporations.
