MUMBAI: After the state assembly elections, political parties are gearing up for local body polls in the state including elections to the BMC, the richest civic body in the country. However, sources say that the polls are unlikely before April because of the pending Supreme Court cases on the number of wards, councillors per ward and process of ward formation.
The apex court is hearing a case on the Shinde government’s ordinance reducing the number of wards in the BMC from 236 to 227. The ordinance had reversed the Mahavikas Aghadi government’s decision to increase the number of wards. The court is also hearing a case on the number of councillors permitted per ward in rural and urban local bodies. And on whether the government or state election commission should be able to decide the process of ward formation including delimitation.
“These cases are bunched together and listed for hearing on January 22
nd. Even if the court passes a final order, it will take at least three months at least to prepare for the polls and conduct the election,” said a senior official. This means that the polls are unlikely to be held till the middle or the end of April.
Polls to all the state's 29 municipal corporations and around 280 nagar parishads and nagar panchayats are pending and these bodies are being run by administrators. In the case of some municipal corporations, polls are pending for 2-3 years. The BMC has been run by an administrator for two-and-a-half years. Its term ended in March 2022.
The BMC election will be the next big clash between the two Shiv Senas. After its poor show in the assembly polls, retaining Mumbai, the city where it was founded, is crucial for Uddhav Thackeray’s party. For the BJP, which was just two seats behind the undivided Shiv Sena in the last BMC election, a win here is key to crushing the morale of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Covid-related lockdowns had initially delayed polls to the state’s local bodies, followed by the Supreme Court case on the OBC quota.
In 2021, the apex court had struck down the 27% OBC quota in local bodies on the grounds that when combined with the SC and ST quota, it crossed the 50% quota cap. The OBC quota was cleared in 2022, when the apex court accepted the OBC quota in 2022 on the basis of a survey report by the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes. The only pending cases now relate to the number of wards, councillors and process of ward formation.
Currently, all state’s municipal corporations are running without elected representatives or corporators. Each corporator, besides representing the concerns of his ward, votes on policy. The municipal corporation makes local policies, passes the budget, approves city plans, and decides on issues that relate to the city’s municipal functions.
Corporators are also part of committees which make key decisions. The most significant committee is the standing committee which has financial powers and approves tenders and proposals presented by the municipal administration.
Former corporators and civic activists say the lack of elected representatives has created a vacuum. “Corporators are the first point of contact with the public. They represent the voice of the people. It is corporators who people call to complain about toilets, footpaths or even when they want to apply for Aadhar cards,” says MLA Rais Shaikh, who was a former corporator.