Mumbai BMC polls, elections to other civic bodies in Maha could be delayed up to April-May?

MUMBAI: Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai, the country’s richest civic body are likely to be delayed further and could be as late as April or even May 2023, opines journalist and Poll Analyst Flynn Remedios.

According to several legal experts we spoke to, the Supreme Court is seized of the matter concerning the claim to the Shiv Sena name and logo by the opposing camps of Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray and the matter is likely to be referred to a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

There are two other connected matters pending in the Supreme Court and it is very unlikely that these matters will reach any conclusion before February-end or March or even April. The option of an appeal will further prolong the matter and it is likely to continue till March-end or April.

Also, the Bombay High Court is hearing a case filed by former corporators  including ex-coporator Raju Pednekar regarding the delimitation exercise of wards in Mumbai.

Initiated in 2021 during the MVA government’s regime, the delimitation exercise increased the number of electoral wards from 227 to 236.

However, an ordinance issued by the Eknath Shinde government on August 8 this year, reinstated the wards to 227. On September 8, the ordinance was replaced by the Act.

This process by the Eknath Shinde government has been challenged by former corporator Raju Pednekar (and others) challenging the government’s decision to reverse the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s decision to go ahead with the delimitation of BMC wards. The matter is now posted for January 3 and is likely to take at least 45 to 60 days in the Bombay High Court.

On Tuesday, December 20, the State government told a Bombay High court division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Gauri Godse that it extended its assurance of putting a freeze on the delimitation exercise till January 5. The court will hear the matter on January 3, the first day after the winter vacation.

The party which does not get a verdict in its favor, is likely to challenge it before the Supreme Court, which means the case regarding the wards delimitation exercise is also going to take at least 3 months, if not more to reach a final conclusion.

With these matters pending in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, it is very unlikely to expect the BMC elections before April or May, a legal expert pointed out. Not just the BMC elections, all other civic body polls in Maharashtra are likely to be delayed by at least 3-4 months. If matters in the courts go beyond May first week, the BMC elections could also be postponed post monsoon, on the grounds that the BMC machinery is busy with urgent monsoon work.

Once a final decision by the Highest Court is out, the State Election Commission will take two months to prepare the entire pre-poll process. This leaves the only possible and realistic option or time frame for the BMC polls (as well as other civic polls in Maharashtra) to May or May-end next year or maybe post monsoon as stated above.

While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had hinted that the BMC polls could be held in January next year and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis mentioned that February 2023 was more practical, it is very unlikely that the polls could take place before March next year. We predict that the polls could be delayed up to March-end or even April-May, given the present flow of issues in the courts.