Barring Mumbai, multi-member 17 municipal corporations set to become single member civic bodies

Multi-member electoral wards will give way to single member electoral wards which will be redrawn based on the 2011 Census altering electoral landscape.

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: Barring the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the State Election Commission of Maharashtra (SECM) is all set to launch an exercise to convert 17 Municipal Corporations from multi-member electoral wards to single member electoral wards.

Besides this the SECM will launch the Delimitation of municipal electoral wards in the 18 Municipal Corporations that will go to polls in 2022. The SECM move follows the state government’s earlier decision to convert all the 17 multi-member civic bodies into single member civic bodies. The BMC already has a single member electoral ward system, but will undergo delimitation of civic wards like in the rest of 17 civic bodies.

According to a statement issued by the SECM here on August 25, the exercise will be launched from August 27 as the elections to these 18 Municipal Corporations is due between March to October, 2022. This is keeping in line with the state government’s earlier decision to amend the law and make the 17 multi-member municipal corporations into single member civic bodies.

As per the SECM notification the delimitation of the civic electoral wards will be based on the 2011 Census. Amongst the set parameters laid down for delimitation, the census population is to be divided by the total number of electoral civic wards to arrive at the voter population of each electoral ward. The direction to be taken while delimitation of an electoral ward will be from North-East-West and South.

Instructions have been issued to ensure geographical continuity and care must be taken not to breach the civic ward boundary, while maintaining the continuity of the electoral ward boundary. Care has to be taken to ensure that new roads and localities are taken into consideration at the same time ensuring continuity of the electoral ward. The whole exercise has to be completed within the next six months so as to allow sufficient time to earmark reserved category electoral wards.

The 18 Municipal Corporation’s that will go to polls in 2022 include – Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Malegaon, Parbhani, Nanded-Waghala, Latur, Amravati, Akola, Nagpur and Chandrapur.

Of these 18 Municipal Corporation’s whose house term expires in March 2022 include – Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur. The term of the house in Chandrapur municipal corporation is set to expire in April. The term of the house in Parbhani and Latur is set to expire in May. The term of the house in Bhiwandi-Nizampur and Malegaon is set to expire in June 2022. The term of the house in Panvel is to expire in July and that of Nanded-Waghala is set to expire in October 2022.

Out of the 18 Municipal Corporations that are scheduled to go to polls in 2022, the BJP is in power in Ulhasnagar, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Latur, Amravati, Akola, Nagpur and Chandrapur. The Shiv Sena is in power in Mumbai and Thane. Whereas the Congress is in power in Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Parbhani and Nanded-Waghala, while it shares power with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Malegaon.