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.