The last day for filing nominations for the BMC election was replete with chaos and drama. This was the first time that the BMC opted for online submission of nominations as well
Shiv Sena's Minal Juwatkar is greeted by supporters at Tardeo. Pic/Bipin Kokate
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The last day for filing nominations for the BMC election was replete with chaos and drama. This was the first time that the BMC opted for online submission of nominations as well. But the civic body failed to account for teething troubles — glitches and a mad rush from candidates.
Technical glitches plagued the online system well past its submission deadline of 4 pm yesterday. Tokens were given at the filing centres to candidates who arrived close to the deadlines for both physical and online submissions to ensure that the process could be continued later. The deadline for physical filing of papers was 5 pm.
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An official from the Election Commission's office said the slowdown was largely caused a sharp uptick in the number of candidates since all parties are contesting on their own this time. "This resulted in chaos and caused a delay in filing of papers."
(Left) Nagada players up the tempo as Shiv Sena candidate Annamalai heads to file his nomination papers; and a candidate in Andheri gears up for the big moment ahead of submitting his papers. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi and Sneha Kharabe
A total of 2,718 nominations were filed at the 23 centres, and 8,041 submitted online. On Thursday, only 636 nominations had been filed. In the run-up to the last BMC election, 2,325 nomination papers had been filed.
Cue drama
The chaos was capped by drama amongst party workers and candidates. In Goregaon, BJP leader Sameer Desai, who had been named in the party's candidate list, was forced to give up his ticket from ward 58 to senior leader Dilip Patil on the last day. In consolation, Desai's wife was propped up from ward 56.
Mayor Snehal Ambekar, too, saw tense moments when she was forced to change her ward at the last minute. Locals and party workers raised a clamour against giving her a ticket from ward 198, saying she had neither worked satisfactorily for the ward nor giving others to come up. Ambekar was then quickly shunted to ward 195, from where she filed her nomination.
This BMC election will also be remembered for the Congress releasing its list of candidates after the deadline for submission of nominations. The party released a shortlist of aspirants three days ago. Party workers had railed against this shortlist, alleging that party chief Sanjay Nirupam had favoured those close to him.
It released its candidate list only at 8 pm, long after surreptitiously handing over tickets to candidates. The Shiv Sena is likely to see a rift in its stronghold — Dadar — as a rebel, Rohita Thakur, has filed her nomination as an independent candidate. She will go up against Sena's Trupti Patankar.
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