SEC nod for BMC elections in February 2022

The state election commission (SEC) on Monday gave a go-ahead to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to hold the civic polls in February 2022

The state election commission (SEC) on Monday gave a go-ahead to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to hold the civic polls in February 2022. Amid Covid-19 wave, the BMC had last week sought clarification on the schedule.

HT Image

The city has 227 wards and the civic polls were last conducted in February 2017. The Shiv Sena has a majority of corporators (97), followed by BJP (82), Congress (30) and other smaller parties. The civic body will now study the models and patterns of five states – Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry – where Assembly elections were conducted recently. Civic officials will also study the gram panchayat elections conducted in Maharashtra earlier this year. The preparations will be undertaken considering the 2011 census, as the 2021 census is delayed due to the pandemic.

UPS Madan, state election commissioner, told HT, “As of now BMC polls are as per schedule.” According to SEC officials, a lottery for reserving wards for women and SC/STs will be undertaken later this year. Reservation for OBCs will be affected by the Supreme Court order which rejected the state government’s review petition concerning reservation to Marathas. The SEC has also asked the BMC to begin work on delimitation of electoral wards or rectification of wards, which were redrawn in 2017.

However, since no new census data after 2011 is currently available to carry out a full-fledged delimitation exercise, it is likely that only a rectification process will be carried out. The SEC has also asked the BMC to prepare new voter lists, based on the voter lists for 2019 state Assembly elections.

Sangeeta Hasnale, assistant municipal commissioner, said, “We have been informed that the elections for BMC will take place as per schedule in February 2022. Accordingly, we are starting our preparations for the paperwork. We will have to consider 2011 census for the upcoming polls. We will definitely have to consider Covid-19 while planning, considering it may remain till that time. However, the situation might have changed with vaccination, but we will have to factor it in our planning.”

Meanwhile, Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party (SP) corporator, said, “I will not comment on whether it is okay to conduct elections. But the BMC can approach the state Covid task force to get an understanding of the ground situation.”

Ravi Raja, Congress corporator and leader of opposition in the BMC, said, “It is good that permission has been given by the SEC, but Covid-related factors should be considered.”