Kerala prepares for major ward delimitation, impacting 1.5 cr buildings

Thiruvananthapuram: As the state is gearing up for a delimitation of wards in all its local bodies, the process will cause a change in building numbers for approximately 1.5 crore buildings. The current structure includes 19,489 wards across panchayats and municipalities, with around one crore buildings in panchayats and over 48 lakh buildings in civic bodies.

Following the governor's approval to the ward delimitation bill, the State Delimitation Commission is ready to initiate its tasks. This bill, brought about by amending the Kerala Panchayat Raj and Kerala Municipal Acts, has already been passed by the state assembly. The Commission will soon release guidelines, assigning district-level officers to handle the ward delimitation and detailing the implementation procedures.

Local Self Government secretaries will start enumerating buildings in their respective regions as directed by the Commission. Initially, the focus will be on collecting the number of houses since the number of voters in each house is the basis of the delimitation process.

Subsequently, boundaries will be delineated using natural and man-made landmarks such as rivers, hills, roads, and public institutions, and a draft map of the delimited wards will be prepared. The formation of the remaining wards will begin from the north-west side and proceed in a clockwise direction, ensuring that the population count in each ward is relatively equal.

Change to reflect in documents including Aadhaar
With the new house and ward numbers, residents will need to update their essential documents, including Aadhaar cards. Changing the address on Aadhaar cards requires a separate application attested by a gazetted officer.
For other documents, residents will need the revised possession document issued by their local administrative body. This process will commence once local body officials visit each house to affix the revised building number and update the official records.

Currently, the state comprises around 15,962 wards across 941 Gram Panchayats. The 87 municipalities, excluding Mattanur, have a total of 3,078 wards, while the six corporations account for 414 wards.