Aurangabad, May 29:
A rough draft on delimitation of prabhags (cluster of three wards) allegedly went viral on social media on Saturday. Aspiring candidates from various political parties assumed the draft to be real. However, returning officer Santosh Tengle scrapped the draft stating that the State Election Commission (SEC) has not yet finalized the draft on prabhags of the municipal corporation. Therefore, the draft that went viral on social media is bogus.
Earlier, the SEC directed the AMC to submit the rough draft on or before May 17. However, the AMC missed the deadline it received for the base map of the city from SEC. Later on, the AMC got puzzled as the population figures sent by SEC and the figures possessed by the AMC did not match each other. Hence the AMC was unable to insert the enumeration blocks in the base map sent by SEC. Hence to guide in draft, the SEC called the AMC delegation to Mumbai on Friday. The AMC submitted the new rough draft in the meeting. Hence, it was alleged that this draft got leaked. Many past and present public representatives received it on their social media accounts. As the day broke, the aspirants rushed to visit their desirous wards/prabhags to see the boundaries and plan further. The leaked document highlighted divisions in the boundaries of many old wards. A new controversy erupted when some political parties started alleging that the plan was confidential.
Draft is bogus
Tegle sent a press release to the media on Sunday afternoon. In it, he mentioned that the municipal corporation has submitted the raw draft on prabhags to the commission. This is not final yet. There will be radical changes in it. The SEC has the authority to finalize the draft as per all the criteria rules. The draft, which went viral on social media, is bogus and citizens should not believe it.