Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) draft ward formation for the 2025 civic polls, released last week, has failed to stir much political action so far. In the three days since the draft was made public, the Election Department has received only a single objection, filed by Dharam Nagar resident Vidyasagar D. Tripathi.
In a detailed memorandum to Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari, Tripathi strongly opposed the continuation of the four-member Prabhag (ward) system, branding it “undemocratic” and “unaccountable.” According to him, single-member wards ensure direct responsibility, while the multi-member arrangement dilutes representation and allows corporators to escape accountability.
Gold Rate
18 Aug 2025
Tripathi cited his experience with Ward 4 in the 2017 elections, where all four corporators belonged to the same political party and informally divided the area among themselves. Citizens approaching them, he said, were often told their grievance “belonged to another corporator’s patch,” despite the collective responsibility of all four.
Raising technical objections to the draft, Tripathi pointed out that Ward 4 was stitched together using portions of Nagpur East and Nagpur North Assembly constituencies, creating confusion between Lakadganj and Ashi Nagar zones. He alleged that the demarcation ignored natural and civic boundaries such as rivers, major roads, markets, and railway lines, and simply replicated the flawed 2017 pattern without any scientific revision.
As an alternative, he demanded either a rollback of the multi-member system or a redrawn Ward 4 aligned with clear physical boundaries, Pili River in the north, Nag River and Bharatwada in the east, Pardi-Chikhli Chowk and the Nagpur-Howrah railway line in the south, and Kalamna Market with the railway line in the west.
Meanwhile, former corporators including Congress leaders Bhavana Lonare and Arun Dawre have indicated that they too will raise objections, especially over the shifting of voter lists to adjoining Prabhags, which they fear could alter their political equations in the coming civic polls.
The last date for filing objections and suggestions is September 4. Once the ward structure is finalised, it will clear the way for the long-pending civic elections, which have been delayed since 2022.
