The rivalry between the ruling Shiv Sena and the opposition BJP appears to be intensifying within the wake of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a plea by two BJP councillors, Abhijit Samant and Rajshree Shirwadkar, difficult the Maharashtra authorities’s November 30 ordinance to extend the 9 seats within the BMC from 227 to 236 wards. Was.
The petitioners had contended that the ordinance by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) authorities to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act was “illegal” because it was primarily based on 10-year-old knowledge from the 2011 Census.
In response to a rivalry that the variety of BMC seats was elevated with none “quantitative data or the latest census population data available”, the state authorities said that it was proportional to the rise in inhabitants. The authorities referred to as the grounds raised within the petition “unjust, arbitrary, malicious and politically motivated”.
Sources within the Shiv Sena, which heads the MVA authorities in alliance with the Congress and the NCP, mentioned the BJP challenged the federal government’s transfer to cease the continued delimitation of ward boundaries of BMC seats. “The BJP won 82 seats in the 2017 BMC elections after the delimitation exercise in its favor,” alleged a senior Shiv Sena chief. “Last year, in view of the Congress party’s demand, when the delimitation exercise was being carried out by the State Election Commission (SEC), the BJP objected to it. It seems that the BJP does not want any delimitation of the ward boundaries as the party fears that it may adversely affect its prospects in the upcoming BMC elections,” the Shiv Sena chief mentioned.
In June 2021, BMC’s chief of opposition, Congress corporator Ravi Raja, wrote to the SEC to “reform” the boundaries of a minimum of 45 wards, which the BJP reportedly “favoured” within the 2017 civic polls. was modified for Subsequently, the state election physique issued a recent order on the delimitation of electoral wards, inviting options and objections from the general public.
The BJP objected to this saying that the delimitation will be executed when the newest census knowledge is obtainable and questioned the idea of it. A delegation of BJP leaders additionally met State Election Commissioner UPS Madan and alleged “political interference” by the ruling occasion within the means of redrawing the ward boundaries, even because it approached the SEC within the matter. Urged to make sure “fair process”.
In November, the Uddhav Thackeray cupboard accepted a proposal to extend the whole variety of BMC wards to 236, saying it was being executed in proportion to the rise in inhabitants calculated within the 2011 Census. The ordinance was introduced and handed as a invoice within the Maharashtra Assembly final month. The BMC began the train of delimitation of all of the 236 wards as per the instructions of the SEC.
Significantly, the Maharashtra authorities not solely elevated the seats of BMC, but in addition elevated the seats of all municipal companies and municipal councils in city areas and zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in rural areas throughout the state.
After the census knowledge was printed in 1991, the BMC seats had been elevated from 170 to 221 primarily based on the elevated inhabitants. After the 2001 census, the variety of BMC seats was once more elevated to 227. The 2021 census course of has been disrupted because of the COVID pandemic.
Shiv Sena sources claimed that the delimitation train carried out in 2016 damage the occasion’s prospects in round 30 seats and favored the BJP. “The BJP objected to the present delimitation train after the Congress demanded it. Now, all of the boundaries of all of the wards have been redrawn. In such a scenario, the query of re-fixing the boundaries of chosen wards doesn’t come up. The BJP fears {that a} vital variety of seats could also be misplaced within the BMC after the delimitation because the ward boundaries can be modified. That’s why she is opposing it.
BJP is aggressively leveling allegations of corruption and malpractice within the civic physique towards Shiv Sena in BMC. The occasion is gearing up for the BMC polls, to grab the Mumbai civic physique from its ally-foe, which has been ruling it for greater than 20 years.
At current, within the 227-member BMC, Shiv Sena has 97, BJP 80, Congress 29, NCP 8 and Samajwadi Party 6.
Elections in BMC are due within the subsequent few months.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
