JAIPUR: Jaipur is on the verge of yet another municipal election, and the civic map is quite different from the one voters saw just a few years back. The city went from one corporation to two corporations and now back to one corporation and the number of wards has changed dramatically as well.Before the 2015 civic elections, Jaipur had one municipal corporation and 91 wards. Before the 2020 elections, the city was divided into 2 corporations i.e. Jaipur Heritage and Jaipur Greater with total of 250 wards.The two corporations have been merged again into one Jaipur Municipal Corporation with 150 wards for 2026 elections.That means in a little over a decade, the municipal structure of Jaipur has been redrawn twice.Another important effect of the latest delimitation is: Each councilor will be representing a much larger population in the new 150 wards as opposed to the current structure of 250 wards.The new wards are likely to have a population of around 25,000 to 30,000 residents, against the earlier 250-ward set-up with a population of about 9,000 to 13,000.For residents, it’s more than just a number on a map. A ward is a demarcation that decides who represents an area in the municipal corporation and how local civic issues get channelized through the elected representatives.Larger wards would mean fewer councilors but much larger constituencies.The change also has a political dimension. The post of mayor for the next term has been declared unreserved and candidates who were earlier debarred by reservation criteria can contest.The constant reshuffling raises a bigger question of urban governance: Does redrawing the wards improve administration, or does it make it harder for residents to navigate local representation?So the new map of Jaipur is not just an electoral exercise. It is a big experiment in the management and delivery of one of India’s most famous cities.
