PCB yet to receive 2011 census report, elections may be delayed

While the gazette notification for holding cantonment elections is yet to be issued by the Central government, given that the last elections took place on May 18, 2008, the ideal time for next elections should be May 2013. But the non-availability of a published census report may delay the elections, and also derail the pre-election processes, such as reservation of wards and preparation of final electoral rolls, feel PCB officials. The published census report may take more than six months to come, say census officials.

The cantonment elections are governed by the Cantonment Electoral Rules (CER) 2007. The date for the election is thus declared by the Centre under a gazette notification. According to CER, the SC/ST reservation of wards are done on the basis of the latest census — which for the next elections is 2011 census. An official from the DCO office in Mumbai said: "The census reports of those bodies where the population is below 1 lakh have not been published. These reports are being prepared and will be sent to Delhi, which will take another three months. The reports will then be published by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. This is likely to take longer and one cannot mention a specific date." The case is no different with all seven cantonments within Maharashtra.

PCB, a Class I cantonment spread over 2941.19 acres, has eight electoral wards. For the 2008 polls, Ward IV was reserved for SCs as per Special Cantonment Board Resolution. Wards V, VI and II are reserved for women at present. In the next polls, the reservations will be shuffled and the wards currently 'open' will be reserved for women, keeping Ward IV intact for SC/STs.

PCB member Karan Makwani said: "The PCB has written to the DCO, Maharashtra, requesting for a copy of the published census report. There is all likelihood that the elections for 2013 may get postponed. We cannot begin any pre-election process until the census report comes," said a PCB official.

Interestingly, the population of PCB has dropped from 79,965 in 2001 to about 72,000, according to the 2011 census. For the first time, the PCB has planned to introduce photo ID cards for the voters. It has been decided to set up booths in each ward, which will issue photo IDs to the voters. Arti Mahajan, vice-president, PCB said: "We have been issuing voter IDs but this time we plan to issue photo ID cards...to curb bogus voting."

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