Mumbai civic polls: Ward boundaries changed to favour Shiv Sena, says BJP

A BJP leader hands over a rose to civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal during the protest

Armed with flowers, BJP leaders staged a ‘Gandhi-style' protest on Monday at BMC headquarters against what they called deliberate distortions in Mumbai's electoral ward boundaries, days after the civic administration submitted a draft of the ward map to the State Election Commission. Civic elections in Mumbai are scheduled to be held in February 2022. Civic officials said the draft is the outcome of ground realities.

BJP leaders handed over flowers to BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and accused him of succumbing to the pressure of ruling Shiv Sena. They said the draft has split many BJP wards to favour Sena, in a departure from the one that had been drawn by the BMC's Elections department.

BJP group leader Prabhakar Shinde said the electoral boundaries were tampered with by harassing top BMC officials and violating democratic rules. Shinde slammed Sena for "reorganizing new wards" for its political gain. He said, "As the Election Commission is an autonomous body, the BJP has demanded in a written letter that the Election Commission should take steps in this regard and verify the ward plans impartially. Otherwise, there will be an intense agitation on behalf of our party."

The civic body has tried to record the spatial distribution of buildings and slums on the electoral maps. With the draft reaching the Election Commission, the poll body will put it out in public domain or ask the BMC to do so to invite suggestions and objections of citizens. After this, a lottery will decide which of the city's 227 wards will be reserved.

Sources said many have migrated permanently due to COVID and the population density is likely to have shifted or reduced from some wards. "This may also impact the neighbouring wards. All such factors were considered while drafting ward boundaries exercise. While this impact won't be much, it will still be seen especially at the time of calculating voting percentage," said a senior civic official. The official added, "There is nothing wrong in the draft that has been submitted. All the guidelines have been adhered to."

227
No. of electoral wards in Mumbai