Concerning the BMC Elections, the government would not carry out ward delimitation

The delimitation procedure for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) ward elections in Mumbai has been halted, the Maharashtra Government informed the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. Before a division bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and AS Doctor, the government's attorneys Vikram Nankaji and Jyoti Chavan presented a letter that was sent on November 22 to all of the Municipal Commissioners who were involved.

 

The letter stated that "urgent steps should be taken to identify the number/composition of the wards as per the next census for the forthcoming general elections of the Municipal Corporations whose terms have expired and whose terms are about to expire." Raju Pednekar's case, which contested the August 8 ordinance that overturned the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's decision regarding the delimitation of corporation wards, was being heard by the HC.

 

Pednekar is a member of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). After the Supreme Court recently turned down his appeal, he went to the HC. On December 13, the court was notified that the Supreme Court had maintained the arguments. The petition was retained by the HC until a hearing on December 20. Priyanka Chhapwale, deputy secretary of UDD, filed an affidavit in opposition to the request, claiming that there had been a negligible growth in population between the 2001 and 2021 censuses and that as a result, the number of wards had not been raised for the elections in 2012 and 2017.

 

The affidavit stated that Respondent No. 3 did not increase the number of wards for the elections that were held in the years 2012 and 2017. "Pertinently, the increase in population from the year 2001 till 2011, as reported by the census exercise of 2011 was found to be insufficient, minuscule to increase the number of Councillors from 227," it said. "Therefore, the data from the 2011 Census plainly showed that no increase in the number of Councillors, Wards, or as there was no new data which needed a change in the number of wards was required."

 

 

Mumbai had a population of 1,19,78,450 in 2001; this number rose to 1,24,42,373 in 2011, a 3.87 percent growth. "It is a well-established legal concept that the right to vote in elections does not qualify as a basic right. Instead, it continues, "the asserted right is only a product of a statute. The government is requesting that Pednekar's appeal be rejected because it was submitted with "malafide" motives and as a result of "political influence" and that the statute was legitimate and constitutional in its earlier form (with 227 seats) before November 30, 2021.

 

Avinash Sanas, a Deputy Commissioner for the State Election Commission (SEC), stated in an affidavit that the SEC needed six months to finish the election process, which entails four primary steps: delimitation, reservation, voter lists, and the actual conduct of elections.