Hawkers’ protests gain impetus ahead of crucial elections in BMC

Hawkers in Mumbai demand all vendors be allowed to vote in BMC elections, questioning eligibility criteria. Writ petition filed in Bombay HC.

Mumbai: As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to hold elections of hawker representatives in the town vending committees (TVC) on August 31, around 1500 mutinous hawkers gathered at various spots of the city – Malad, Goregaon, Jogeshwari, Andheri and Mankhurd -- on Tuesday to voice their demands. A similar protest was held by multiple hawkers’ unions at Azad Maidan on July 18.

Around 1,500 mutinous hawkers gathered at various spots of the city – Malad, Goregaon, Jogeshwari, Andheri and Mankhurd -- on Tuesday to voice their demands.

On Tuesday, vendors from the Janwadi Hawkers Sabha (JHS), a union, demanded that all of them, including around 1,98,241 vendors that received loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme, be allowed to vote and not just 32,415 that BMC has deemed eligible. “The civic body gave the letters of recommendation for loans to these street vendors, acknowledging their professions. Why are they being excluded then,” asked Ravindra Madane, general secretary of the JHS.

They also questioned the veracity of 32,415 eligible hawkers based on BMC’s survey of 2014. At the time, the civic body had distributed 1.2 lakh forms and received 99,435 applicants, of which 22,000 were considered eligible, and another 10,000 old licence holders added later.

“We could have accepted BMC’s claim of 2-5% applicants as fake but they named over 75% disingenuous; that is unacceptable. If BMC cannot conduct another survey, it should then invite votes from all hawkers who had submitted their applications in 2014,” said Madane, adding that they survey was incomplete at the time with a short notice issued for submissions.

“At the last meeting of the main TVC, held in November 2023, when we questioned BMC on its chosen numbers, we were not given proper answers, and the meeting ended in 10 minutes,” said K Narayan, president of JHS and a member of the TVC.

The elections are being held to choose eight hawker representatives who will be part of each of the eight TVCs – one main and seven zonal – that will implement the Street Vendors Act, 2014.

To bolster their demands, JHS, affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), also filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court tabling their demands on Tuesday. They said, if their demands are not met, JHS will not stand for the elections as hawkers’ representatives, nor will the 2,000 hawkers in their union in the Mumbai region vote.

On August 2, representatives of six unions – Shashank Rao’s Mumbai Hawkers Union, Dayashankar Singh’s Azad Hawkers Union, Syed Haider Imam of the AITUC Hawkers Union, Nawaz Khan of the Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers Union, Sanjay Guruv of the Vadapav Vikreta Sena and Mamta Pathare of the Hindustan Swayamrozgar Union - along with JHS had sent a letter to the municipal commissioner with similar demands.

“We will decide our next course of action in a meeting on August 17,” said Narayan. “We are also planning a march from Borivali to Mantralaya along with all the hawkers who stand to be affected if they are barred from their trade.”