New Delhi, April 19 : President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the merger of three M cipal Corporations in Delhi, and a gazette notification was issued on Tuesday announcing the new Act. Under the Act, the three MCDs—East Delhi M cipal Corporation, South Delhi M cipal Corporation and North Delhi M cipal Corporation—will be merged and will be called the M cipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). All the liabilities, employees, and revenue sources of the three corporations will soon be transferred to the MCD. The Act also gives the center the control over MCD by replacing the word ‘government’ with ‘central government’ in the Act, and also provides for a fresh delimitation exercise. The number of seats will be brought down to 250 from present 272. It also provides for appointment of a ‘Special Officer’ to head the corporation until new representatives are elected. The Delhi Election Commission was to announce the date for m cipal elections on March 9. However, at the press conference, State Election Commissioner of Delhi, S K Srivastava, said the dates will be announced in the next few days stating they have received a comm cation from the Central government at 4.30 pm on the issue of merger of the corporations. The polls were deferred and the Bill for fication of the m cipal corporations was introduced and passed in recently concluded Budget Session even as several opposition parties accused the ruling BJP of running away from polls fearing loss at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is in power in Delhi. AO SHK1836