Increase in Mumbai's ward count could delay BMC elections

BMC elections are scheduled to be held in February 2022

The government's decision to add nine more electoral wards in Mumbai could delay the BMC elections that are scheduled to be held in February 2022. Corporators said more wards in the city will lead to the delimitation of almost every ward and the restructuring exercise will have to start from scratch. This process will take at least two to three months, they said.

The tenure of the current civic house, with 227 members, ends on March 8. Usually, BMC polls are held in February followed by the selection of Mayor. While the BMC administration submitted the data on the restructuring of the city's 227 electoral wards to the State Election Commission on October 28, the state Cabinet on Wednesday decided to add nine more wards, taking the house strength to 236.

"After issuing the Government Resolution, the process has to start from scratch as increasing one ward in an area obviously leads to redrawing of surrounding wards. It will take almost two months. Suggestions and objections from the public and reservation of wards will take another month," said Bhalchandra Shirsat, spokesperson of the BJP, which is considering moving the court to challenge the increase in the number of wards.

"The average population of the wards are 50,000 to 55,000, but some wards have a population of more than 65,000. The wards have to be the same size for balanced development. We can't say the process may take extra time," said Ravi Raja, group leader of Congress. There is speculation that the elections would be pushed to April-May and the new civic house will be in place before the next monsoon. The state might extend the tenure of the current house or the administration will look after the work of the BMC after March 8.

Why and how wards increase

The boundaries of electoral wards change once in 10 years on the basis of the Census and population division. The wards were redrawn before the last BMC polls in 2017 on the basis of the 2011 Census with an average population of 50,000 to 55,000 per ward. After the recalibration, the number of wards decreased in the southern part of the city and went up in western and eastern suburbs. However, the Sena and Congress had alleged that the exercise diminished their poll prospects. Both parties demanded a correction.

The latest decision by the state Cabinet to add nine more wards was taken on the basis of population increase in 2011 over the 2001 Census. The population grew by 3.87 per cent. So wards can increase by 8.78 (9 after rounding off) in 227 wards of the city. "Last time when restructuring of wards based on the census of 2011, the process started on September 7 but now it is almost two months late. In the 2017 election, the ward restructuring was already done on the basis of population. There is a malafide intention to increase wards to restructure other wards and we are thinking of going for a legal fight against it," said Bhalchandra Shirsat, spokesperson of BJP.

March 8
Date in 2022 when tenure of current BMC house ends