Maharashtra Assembly reverses previous govt's decision of increasing BMC wards

The new government led by Eknath Shinde has passed a bill to reverse the increase in the number of wards in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from 227 to 236.Congress and Samajwadi Party supported the amendment to reverse the previous government's decision on wards in the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation where the elections are due. The NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena spoke against the amendment by highlighting a Supreme Court decision directing for a status quo.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the decision clarifying that the apex court directive was in another case pertaining to quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). He said, "Our ordinance is for reversing the number of wards from 236 to 227. There is no legal impediment."Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray retaliated calling the bill "unconstitutional, just like the government"; to which Chief Minister Eknath Shinde responded by saying, "In a democracy, numbers are important. We have the majority. We have not acted unconstitutionally."Shinde also accepted MLA Sada Sarvankar's demand for an inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) into the previous government's decision to increase the number of wards. He further said, even though he was the urban development minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government, policy making is always a collective decision.Congress MLA Amin Patel and Samajwadi Party MLA Raees Sheikh called upon past government's decision stating that ward delimitation was done to "benefit a particular party" and was not in the interest of the citizens of Mumbai.