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Single-member wards for 18 civic bodies going to polls, including Pune: Maha poll commission
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, on Wednesday, made what poll experts and analysts are calling a clear move aimed at influencing municipal elections in the state, slated in several key corporations in February 2022
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, on Wednesday, made what poll experts and analysts are calling a clear move aimed at influencing municipal elections in the state, slated in several key corporations in February 2022.
The state election commission, on Wednesday, announced that wards in 18 municipal corporations in Maharashtra would now have only one council member per ward.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) currently is allowed four council members per ward, as was in the 2017 municipal elections.
Last week, Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Ajit Pawar, also deputy chief minister, asked his party members to state their preference for a new structure at the ward level, ahead of the elections.
The NCP is believed to be in favour of a two- member council at the ward level, but the state election commission’s notification, issued on Wednesday, suggests the state government has decided “single member” wards are the way forward.
Mumbai has had a single-council member per ward system since 2017. Now corporations in Thane, Pune, Nashik, and Pimpri-Chinchwad will also have the same single-member system.
Psephologists in the city, requesting anonymity, believe that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favours multi-council-member wards. “If there are multi-member wards, instead of candidates, voters prefer to vote for the party. If the ward has only one council member, the candidate becomes more important than the party,” the poll expert said.
“Even if any candidate has even a small pocket of influence, s/he can win the seat,” he added.
The state election commission asked municipal commissioners to start the process of converting multi-seat councils to single seats from August 27.
The means the preparations for the municipal elections in Pune have begun.
Some political sources, also preferring to stay anonymous, said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi does have the right to allow two council members in some wards, depending on a variety of factors.
