Poll panel publishes final list of new boundaries for 236 wards

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra state election commission (SEC) on Friday published the final list of revised boundaries for 236 civic electoral wards in Mumbai, after approving the draft for redrawn boundaries submitted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday.

Following this, the BMC will carry out a ward reservation lottery and prepare voters lists on which suggestions and objections will be invited.

While the schedule with time for both these processes will be decided and declared by the SEC, civic officials said it could take approximately 15 days for the BMC to complete them.

A senior civic official said, “The entire schedule is decided by the SEC. We will wait for further directives. However, realistically, this process can take about two weeks.”

After these steps are completed, the SEC will create a draft schedule for the elections and consult the civic body, after which the plan will be finalised by the SEC.

In around 13 administrative wards in Mumbai out of the 24, boundaries of electoral wards in their jurisdiction have been revised, involving areas like Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, Andheri east, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Chembur, Lalbaug, Parel, Worli and Byculla.

Ravi Raja, former leader of the opposition in BMC between 2017-22, said, “For carving out nine more electoral wards, we have to understand neighbouring three to four ward boundaries will get affected. About 40% to 50% of the boundaries have changed.”

Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi, said, “Civic officials drew the ward boundaries under the influence of Shiv Sena. We filed suggestions and objections which have not been incorporated. To accommodate 236 electoral wards, boundaries of about 50% of the existing 227 wards changed. In doing so, they have favoured the current ruling party in BMC.”

Similarly, the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) also published its final ward demarcation for the upcoming civic polls in the 44 wards.

Along with these, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has also finalised the ward demarcation and published it on the civic website on Saturday with 47 new wards.

(With inputs from Sajana Nambiar)