Former Congress corporators are upset with the redrawing of ward boundaries in the city and have alleged that the new wards would benefit the Shiv Sena. The State Election Commission (SEC) published the final list of revised boundaries of 236 electoral wards last week.
A senior Congress leader said that after studying the list published on May 13, the party has found that Shiv Sena changed the boundaries in a way that will give an advantage to its leaders in about 45 wards.
Though the Sena and the Congress are partners in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, ward boundaries of Congress’s sitting corporators have also been changed, alleged the Congress party. However, Shiv Sena leaders in the BMC have denied any role in the ward boundary formation.
“We have found that more than 40 boundaries have been changed, along with about 17 wards that have Congress corporators. The Shiv Sena is repeating what the BJP did during the 2017 BMC polls,” said a former Congress corporator on condition of anonymity.
These wards are in the island city and western suburbs. “We will have a meeting with senior party functionaries, after which further course of action would be decided,” he said.
According to officials from the BMC’s election department, the number of wards has increased to 236 from 227, and the boundaries of 90 wards have been changed. Similarly, three wards each in the island city, western and eastern suburbs have been increased.
Areas like Worli, Parel, Byculla, Kurla, Chembur, Malad, Borivali, Kandivali, Dahisar, and Andheri have seen changes. With 92 corporators, the Shiv Sena was the single largest party in the BMC till March 7 when the five-year term of the civic body ended; the Congress had 29 corporators.
Some former Congress corporators have also expressed disappointment for not being invited to the inauguration of projects or ground-breaking ceremonies in their wards. Samajwadi Party legislator Rais Shaikh had also alleged that boundaries have changed to support the ruling party.
