Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Rais Shaikh has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urging the state government to hold the long-overdue elections to local bodies, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), before March 7, 2025.
The letter, also addressed to Deputy Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, highlights the prolonged delay in restoring democratic governance to local bodies across Maharashtra.
In his letter, Shaikh stressed that the BMC, the largest local government body in Asia, has been functioning without elected representatives since March 7, 2022, when its previous term ended. The current administrator is set to complete three years in office by March 7, 2025. "It is not a matter of pride for Indian democracy that the financial capital of the country has been run for so long without people's representatives," he stated.
Shaikh also pointed out that elections to 29 municipal corporations, 228 municipal councils, 29 Nagar Panchayats, 26 Zilla Parishads, and 289 Panchayat Samitis in the state remain pending. He demanded that these elections, including those for the BMC, be conducted without further delay to uphold democratic principles.
Following the state Assembly elections, political parties are preparing for local body elections, including those for the BMC, which is the wealthiest civic body in the country. On February 2, it presented a Rs 59,954.75 crore budget for the year 2024-25.
However, sources indicate that these elections are unlikely to take place before April due to ongoing Supreme Court cases concerning the number of wards, the number of councillors per ward, and the process for the wards' formation.
Elections for all 29 municipal corporations in the state, as well as approximately 280 nagar parishads and nagar panchayats, are still pending. These local bodies are currently being managed by administrators.
In some cases, elections for municipal corporations have been delayed for 2 to 3 years. Notably, the BMC has been under the administration of an appointed official for two and a half years, following the expiration of its term in March 2022.
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