BMC to declare electoral map for 2017 polls today

MUMBAI: As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declares the new electoral map for the 2017 elections on Monday, political parties will start their groundwork

MUMBAI: As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declares the new electoral map for the 2017 elections on Monday, political parties will start their groundwork to win the country’s richest civic body.

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At a time when the redrawing or delimitation may affect 80% of the wards, the lottery for reservation for women, scheduled caste and schedule tribe candidates will add to the uncertainty factor for sitting councillors and political parties. This will effectively translate into a flurry of closed-door party strategy meets, talks of alliance, launch of electoral campaigns and party hopping, as some corporators lose their seats and aspirants go ticket-hunting.

By the end of October, all parties will announce their strategies, with the BJP already stealing a march over others by launching its ‘Mee Mumbai’ campaign this week. The ongoing tussle between saffron allies-turned-rivals – the Shiv Sena and BJP -- is expected to transform into a high-decibel war, with their alliance unlikely for the BMC polls.

While the Sena and BJP remain the main contenders, the Congress will have to fight to ensure it doesn’t get edged out as an irrelevant third contender.

The Sena faces a leadership vacuum on corporation level in the absence of two of its experienced civic leaders -- former standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale getting elected as the MP and former mayor Sunil Prabhu a legislator.

The BJP, which has been playing a limited role in the BMC (it had contested only 72 seats in the last polls) has ambitions of wresting the civic body from its ally, but doesn’t have enough candidates for all wards.

The Congress has put together a joint team of city leaders to come up with a strategy for the civic elections, but none of them get along.