Boosting BJP’s BMC poll prospects, Shinde nixing of wards delimitation a body blow for Uddhav Sena

The erstwhile Sena-led government’s move in December 2021 to increase the number of the BMC’s wards to 236 following the delimitation of the existing 227 wards, for which it got an amendment to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act 1888 passed by the state Assembly, was opposed by the then Opposition BJP and even sections of the MVA allies, which include the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, as they charged that the redrawing of the ward boundaries was “rigged” to benefit the incumbent Thackeray-led Sena in its corporators’ wards and undermine the party’s rivals in their strongholds.

The BJP has been looking to wrest the cash-rich Mumbai civic body from the Sena which has remained at its helm for more than two decades. The Shinde-Fadnavis Cabinet’s Wednesday decision is likely to boost the BJP’s prospects in the BMC polls.

Significantly, the new government’s decision to reverse the MVA government’s BMC move came a day after a delegation of the Congress leaders, led by former Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora, met Fadnavis to demand the restoration of the BMC ward boundaries to those in the previous 2017 polls.

In January this year, the BMC had completed the redrawing of the boundaries of 227 wards, increasing three wards each in the island city and its eastern and western suburbs. In the city, the E ward (Byculla, Madanpura), F-south (Parel, Seweree), and G-south (Worli, Mahalaxmi) got a new ward each; in the western suburb, one ward each was added to R-north (Dahisar), R-south (Kandivali), and K-east (Andheri, Jogeshwari), while in the eastern suburb, L ward (Kurla), N ward (Ghatkopar, Vikhroli), and M-west (Chembur, Mahul) each got a new ward. The BMC officials had said the new electoral wards were drawn up as per the population ratio on the basis of the 2011 Census.

With the BJP up in arms against the Thackeray government’s decision, its corporators had also moved the Bombay High Court against it, which was dismissed by the court.

The BJP had alleged that the BMC ward boundaries were redrawn to undermine its lead in many wards and give the Sena corporators an upper hand there. The BJP leaders had charged that as many as 50 wards where the party won in the 2017 polls with large margins saw their boundaries changed and the party voters there “diffused”.

The BJP corporator from ward 108 in Mulund, Neil Somaiya, son of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, alleged, “The ward boundaries were changed without logic, without considering natural boundaries such as railway lines and nullahs. This was done out of vengeance. My ward was split into two. Sarvodaya Nagar area from my ward went to Mulund east. Moreover, reservations were also rigged, and the remaining portion of my existing ward became reserved for women. There were only 45,000 odd voters in my ward, whereas the neighbouring ward of BJP leader Prabhakar Shinde got 60,000 voters.”

Similarly, Somaiya charged, “In all BJP dominated areas in North Mumbai, including Ghatkopar, Mulund, Dahisar, and Borivali, ward boundaries were changed to damage the BJP corporators’ leads. They (Sena) could not do much damage, as this entire area supports BJP.”

Echoing Somiaya’s views, BJP leader in the BMC, Bhalchandra Shirsath, said, “In every ward, delimitation was done to undermine the prospects of the incumbent corporators. Only Shiv Sena-led wards did not see this problem.”

The Thackeray-led Sena slammed the BJP while rejecting their claims. A senior Sena leader said, “One electoral ward was added to the F/South administrative ward, which led to changes in boundaries of all electorol wards here. But six out of seven corporators in F/South are Sena corporators. Similarly, in G/South ward, where one ward was added, all six corporators belong to Shiv Sena. How can anyone say the administration picked only BJP or Congress wards?”

However, there had also been resentment within the Congress against the MVA’s BMC delimitation move, although the party had earlier not vented it due to “coalition compulsion”.

The Congress alleged that the ward boundaries of 18 out of its 31 wards were changed and that 21 wards, which elected its corporators in the 2017 polls, were brought under reservation. Ravi Raja, the Congress’s BMC leader from ward 176 in Matunga, said, “Boundaries of all electoral wards within the F/North ward area were rearranged to distribute Shiv Sena voters in every ward. This would have not only damaged the lead of the existing corporators, but given Sena candidates an upper hand in the area during elections.”

According to the Mumbai civic officials, the ward boundaries of 70 per cent of the existing 227 wards were changed during the delimitation exercise.

In May this year, the BMC held a lottery for reservations among the 236 wards and held another lottery in July 2022 for including the OBC quota following the Supreme Court’s order. “21 wards with Congress corporators were reserved. There is no option left for such corporators to, say, contest elections from a neighbouring ward, as each one is reserved,” Raja said.

Amin Patel, Congress MLA from Mumbadevi, said, “It was really appalling. A corporator’s term is five years, and he or she deals with all sorts of issues in his ward during this time. Is he or she expected to run to two or more administrative wards and coordinate works? Ward boundaries (after delimitation) were not logical.”

While the Congress has now been vocal about its discontent against the BMC delimitation exercise, the NCP has continued to remain mum on the issue. Rakhee Jadhav, the NCP’s BMC leader from ward 131 in Ghatkopar, said, “I will only say that the present Eknath Shinde-BJP government is ruling with the sole aim to finish off everything started by the MVA government. Whether my ward was affected in the delimitation is secondary.”

With the new government’s decision to revert to 227 civic wards in Mumbai, the BMC will be now tasked with repeating the reservation lottery and finalising the voters’ lists there. According to the BMC administration, the civic body had spent about one month in the delimitation process and an additional half-month period for preparing the voter lists in 236 wards early this year. “BMC will now carry out the process of ward reservation lottery, and recompile voters’ list. However, we will wait for the state election body to announce a time table for the same. There will be no question of chalking out electoral ward boundaries all over again, as we are basically reverting to wards boundaries from 2017 civic polls,” a senior civic official said.