Elections to Shimla Municipal Corporation, the term of which is ending on 18 June, are likely to be delayed as the Himachal Pradesh High Court set aside the delimitation of two wards and directed the deputy commissioner to reconsider objections.

The court has set aside the delimitation of ward no 11-Nabha (new Ward No 12-Nabha) and ward no 5- Summerhill (new ward no 6-Summerhill). The orders were passed by a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sabina and Justice Satyen Vaidya on two separate petitions filed by Simi Nanda, a Congress councillor from Nabha Ward, and Rajeev Thakur of Summerhill.

The petitioners were aggrieved by the order passed by the deputy commissioner, Shimla on 24 February and the divisional commissioner, Shimla, on 8  March 2022 rejecting the objections filed against delimitation of the aforementioned wards.

The Advocate General opposed the petitions and submitted delimitation of the wards conducted mainly on the basis of population.

Petitioner Simi Nanda submitted that Lower Phagli 1 and Lower Phagli 2 of Nabha ward were proposed to be merged in Phagli ward in violation of the principles of equal distribution of area population-wise. Instead of considering the objections raised by petitioner divisional commissioner, Shimla, the delimitation of Nabha Ward has been proposed by amalgamating the Lower Phagli area.

The court observed that the total population of Nabha ward was 4,387 as per the census of 2011 whereas Tutikandi and Phagli wards had a total population of 5,639 and 4,518 respectively. Thus, there was no occasion to reduce the population of Nabha ward, which was already having the least population out of all the three wards.

In the matter pertaining to the delimitation of Summerhill, petitioner Rajeev Thakur submitted that the process of delimitation carried out by the respondents has failed to achieve the object of the amendment as the population of different wards has not been brought at par. While creating ward no 5 Summerhill area and ward no 6 Boileauganj area, the respondents failed to include the area of Boileauganj Bazar in the Boileauganj ward to create continuity.

The Court observed that the census of 2011 reveals that the population of Summerhill Ward was 5,391 and of Boileaugnaj Ward it was 3955. Thus, the population of Boileauganj ward is much less than the Summerhill ward and at the time of delimitation, an effort could have been made to bring the population of both the wards at par, as far as possible.

The court found that the deputy commissioner had failed to consider the factual aspect of the submissions raised by the petitioners. He was required to take into consideration the fact that equal population as far as practicable in each ward be maintained and each ward was also required to maintain geographical compactness and contiguous areas and recognisable boundaries. He was more influenced by the fact that no ECI polling stations should transgress the boundaries which however does not find mention in the Rules. The appellate authority i.e. divisional commissioner, Shimla, while dismissing the appeals filed by the petitioners, has also failed to consider this aspect of the matter.

The Court found that the impugned orders passed by the deputy commissioner, Shimla, and appellate authority i.e. divisional commissioner, Shimla, qua delimitation of these wards are liable to be set aside and both the petitions have been allowed.

The matters have been reverted to the deputy commissioner with directions to decide about the objections raised by the petitioners afresh, in accordance with the law, after appreciating the material available on record.

In another matter, the court dismissed a petition filed by one, Virender Thakur, who had challenged the reservation of Summer Hill ward of Shimla MC for Woman (General).