The Eknath Shinde government on Wednesday scrapped the former Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s decision to increase the municipal wards in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government had increased the wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from 227 to 236. The BMC has been controlled by the Shiv Sena for over 25 years now.
The decision to revert to the original number of wards was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Shinde and attended by deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“The number of corporators will be revised in proportion to the population of other 26 municipal corporations,” officials said.
Now, the BMC elections, which are expected to take place in October-November, will be held as per the 2017 ward structure.
The BJP, as well as a section of Indian National Congress, opposed the move in Mumbai.
The decision came days after, as per the recent Supreme Court order, 63 of the 236 wards were reserved for OBC.
Last month, senior Congress leader Murli Deora had written a letter to Shinde and Fadnavis, saying: “The new ward boundaries and quota benefits only the Shiv Sena. At least, 20 out of 30 wards the Congress won in 2017 have been restructured wrongly and caused a massive loss to the Congress. Reserving the Opposition leader Ravi Raja’s ward and many others is an act that damages democratic process.”