After the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) drew lottery for reservation of wards on Tuesday, May 31, it has come has come to light that the electoral seats from where some of the key corporators were elected have been reserved for women candidates.
The lottery draw was held in presence of the municipal commissioner and state-appointed administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal. Lottery papers were drawn by children from municipal schools.
It has come to light that of the 236 wards in BMC, 50 per cent or 118 were reserved for women. Among these, 109 were reserved for women in the general category, eight for SC and one for ST women candidates.
Sources said that while the Sena and the BJP have started looking for new wards to adjust their leaders, Congress – angered by the BMC’s ward delimitation exercise – has raised objections to the lottery draw.
Meanwhile, 15 have been reserved for SC and two are reserved for ST candidates. Besides, no seats were reserved for the Other Backward Class (OBC) this year as the Supreme Court struck down the reservation last year for the want of the empirical data.
In February, the BMC – then controlled by the Shiv Sena – had conducted a delimitation exercise, increased the number of electoral wards from 227 to 236 and changed ward boundaries.
Moreover, the draw was also held for 13 other municipal corporations, including Navi Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Pune.
The State Election Commission (SEC) had last week ordered 14 municipal corporations to hold reservation lottery on May 31 without OBC seats. Earlier, 61 seats were reserved for OBCs in BMC elections.
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