Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are likely to be held in February 2023 with the High Court expected to announce the verdict on the reduction of wards in the Corporation by the Maharashtra government recently. The Eknath Shinde government has reversed the MVA government's decision to carry out delimitation of seats aimed at increasing the seats from 227 to 236.
Agitated at the Shinde government's decision, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that the decision to reverse the delimitation be annulled. The SC asked the petitioners to approach the High Court in this regard. The HC is expected to announce the verdict in the coming days with elections likely to be held in February next year.
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The last Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections were held in February 2017 while the election for the post of Mayor was held on March 9 that year. The five-year tenure of the municipality ended on March 7, 2022. However, fresh elections were delayed due to COVID-19. The then Uddhav Thackeray-led government dissolved the municipality and appointed the municipal commissioner as the administrator.
In the meantime, the Corporation announced reservations for Scheduled Castes, Tribes, OBCs and women in its 236 wards the electoral rolls for which have been prepared by the authorities. The government has also proposed a delimitation to increase the number of seats. However, a row erupted after the Eknath Shinde government reversed the MVA government's decision earlier this year. The Shiv Sena has 97 members in the BMC, followed by BJP with 82, Congress 29, NCP 9, SP 6, MIM 2 and MNS 1.
