Mumbai News: Supreme Court Clears Path For BMC Elections, Polls Likely After Monsoon Amid Political Showdown

Mumbai: With the Supreme Court on Tuesday clearing the decks for holding elections to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) there is considerable excitement in political circles in the metropolis. The apex court directed the state election commission to notify elections to BMC and other local bodies within four weeks and hold the polls four months thereafter.

Indications are that the polls may be held in Mumbai soon after the end of monsoon season. The court said the issue of OBC reservation in local body polls will be as it existed prior to the 2022 Banthia Commission report.

Last elections were held in 2017 and the five-year term of the 227 corporators came to an end in February 2022. Since then the civic body has been ruled by bureaucrats with the commissioner playing the role of administrator with powers of all statutory committees.

The civic administration has come in for severe criticism for its failure to govern the city properly. Except for the commissioning of the coastal road, the administration has not much to show in terms of results.

The upcoming polls are politically significant because this is the first time that the Shiv Sena, which had earlier dominated the BMC, will be presenting itself as a divided house. The BJP effectively divided the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray by encouraging Eknath Shinde to defect along with thousands of his supporters.

The Shiv Sena founded by the late Bal Thackeray had made its foray into electoral politics by contesting BMC elections and had politically strengthened itself by capturing the polls with the support of the Marathi manoos.

This time around the party led by Uddhav Thackeray will find the going tough since the party had split and a large number of cadres have cast their lot with Shinde. Aware of its political weakness, the party is now toying with the idea of joining hands with Sena rebel Raj Thackeray.

However, the BJP is expected to make a determined bid to capture the civic body ideally on the basis of its own strength or with the help of its allies, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP led by Ajit Pawar. Despite cracks in the ruling Mahayuti the BJP is confident of repeating its remarkable performance in the assembly elections.

In the 2017 polls the undivided Shiv Sena led with 84 seats followed by the BJP with 82 seats, Congress (31), NCP (9), MNS (7) and indepedents 14. The BMC has budget of Rs 60,000 cr and it has over Rs 80,000 cr in fixed deposits alone. It handles contracts worth thousands of crores annually and hence it is looked upon by parties as a milch cow.

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