The BMC election will hold the key to a new shift in political power -- not just in Mumbai but in Maharashtra, reports Sarthak Choudhury.
Mumbai is eagerly awaiting the much-delayed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.
The past three years have been tumultuous for Maharashtra.
The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together, extending the alliance to the assembly elections later that year, but the old partnership ended thereafter.
In June this year, the story got another twist with Eknath Shinde, a powerful leader in the Shiv Sena, splitting the party and joining hands with the BJP.
The first test of the government, headed by Shinde with the BJP as ally, will be the BMC elections.
“The Devendra Fadnavis-led government started some work. Then the Maha Vikas Aghadi government rolled back all the work done by the previous regime and introduced its projects. Now, again the Shinde-led government is undoing the work by the MVA. Mumbai has not had a steady stream of development for a long time. The King’s Circle here gets inundated every year. What is the point of voting if things change again in two years?” said Shambhu, who works in a bakery in Matunga.
The Shiv Sena has dominated the 227-seat BMC for three decades now.
“This time we are eyeing Dadar and Worli (both considered Shiv Sena strongholds) specifically. We will go all out to prove that even though the Thackerays are blood heirs to Bal Thackeray, we are his political heirs,” a BJP functionary in Juhu said.
Naqeeb, who works in a dhaba in Mahim, doesn’t know what to believe.
“In the past five years, we have had three governments and yet, work on the metro line has not progressed. It will continue being the same for us,” he said.
The BMC may face complex challenges.
It is set to lose revenues of Rs 1,080 crore after the state government decided in August to defer a property tax hike for yet another financial year.
Property tax collection is one of the main sources of revenue for the BMC and according to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, the rate of property tax is revised after every five years.
The Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions have been at loggerheads over a number of issues.
The Shinde government reversed a number of decisions like the delimitation of wards. The decision regarding the delimitation of wards (bringing it back to 227 from 236) also drew attention from Thackeray’s MVA allies. Many said the exercise would have only benefited the Shiv Sena.
“The delimitation process was a procedural exercise. It had to be carried out because the population in the area had increased. There was no other motive behind it,” said Vinayak Raut, Lok Sabha MP and former speaker of the Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha.
According to the budget, capex for FY23 will be Rs 2,200 crore for roads and traffic.
Of the Rs 6,933.75 crore for health, Rs 2,660 crore was via capex, while Rs 4,273 crore through revenue expenditure.
The civic body made a provision of Rs 3,370.40 crore for the education department.
Over 50 per cent of the BMC budget was earmarked for roads and development projects.
Despite the capex being at a six-year high, problems like potholes continue. According to an RTI petition filed last year, the BMC has spent Rs 21,000 crore on the repair, maintenance and construction of new roads in a little over two decades, with the maximum -- Rs 3,201 crore -- between 2013 and 2014.
“Work on most of the projects hasn’t started yet. For now, it looks like the BMC is focusing on maintenance. A programme for dispensaries was announced. But no work has started on it. The focus was on addressing the issues monsoon causes,” said Milind Mhaske, chief executive officer of Praja, a Mumbai-based non-government organisation.
“I heard that Shinde was urban development minister when delimitation happened. Now, he himself has reversed it. No matter which government comes to power, it’s going to be the same -- pollution, potholes, and struggle for us,” said Alam, an auto-driver in Bandra.
For some elected representatives, however, the emphasis continues to be on ensuring the rightful heirs to the “real” Shiv Sena.
The issue took a new turn when the Election Commission decided that the two factions of the Shiv Sena would not be allowed to use the party name and symbol for the ongoing Andheri east by-poll and until the EC passes a final order on the dispute.
“We were open to talking our differences out. But they chose a different path. We have been saying from the beginning: Hold the elections tomorrow and you will see what the people want. That they (the Shinde faction) had to call Amit Shah and leaders of that level to campaign for them suggests there is a degree of apprehension,” said Raut.
This much is clear: That the BMC election will hold the key to a new shift in political power -- not just in Mumbai but in Maharashtra.
