The State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday laid out the timeline for finalizing ward boundaries after they were increased in Mumbai and determining multiple panel wards in the other civic bodies, for carrying out elections to the BMC and 14 other municipal corporations in the state. With the final list of ward limits set to be published on March 2, elections to India’s richest civic corporation, the BMC, are expected to be postponed until late March or April, the Times of India said in a report.
The BMC elections were expected to be held in February, as the civic body’s term ends on March 8. As the SEC prepares for civic elections, all eyes are on revised ward boundaries. Once the new BMC electoral ward limits are determined, a lottery for ward reservation must be held before civic elections can be held, the report said.
The city’s electoral wards will be increased from 227 to 236. The SEC has directed the BMC to publish the revised ward boundaries on February 1 and to accept suggestions/objections until February 14.
A hearing on the received suggestions/objections will take place on February 26, and a report will be submitted to the SEC by March 2. The same timeline will apply to other corporations, including Thane, which will also hold elections. The proposal to increase the number of electoral wards in the BMC and to have multiple panel wards for other corporations was approved by the state cabinet. The state legislature approved amending various Acts for it.
SEC has stated in a letter to the BMC and other local bodies that finalizing reservations for OBCs will take some time. The state government filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, which ordered the state to provide details to the OBC commission, the report further stated. The panel will examine data and make recommendations to both the state and the SEC.
The city’s total population, as finalized for the 236 wards, is 12.44 million. The SEC has accepted the BMC’s ward-by-ward SC and ST population data. Half of the 236 wards are reserved for women. There are 15 SC wards and two ST wards among the 236 wards. In March 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that reservations for OBCs in state local bodies could not exceed the total ceiling of 50% for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
Following the order, the state formed a commission to collect empirical data and issued an ordinance allowing OBCs to receive up to 27 percent reservation without exceeding the 50 percent limit. However, the Supreme Court halted it, stating that it could not be implemented without data.
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