The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government on Friday heaved a major sigh of relief after the Bombay High Court upheld the state government’s decision on multi-member wards in the municipal corporations and municipal councils. The high court has dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the government’s decision. This has paved the way for holding the elections to the 20 municipal corporations and 210 municipal councils.
Today’s high court ruling came days after the Supreme Court asked the State Election Commission to declare a poll schedule for civic and local bodies in two weeks. The state cabinet in September last year had approved the reintroduction of the multi-member ward system for all municipal councils and corporations barring the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), instead of the existing single-member ward system. According to the cabinet decision, there will be a three-member ward system in municipal corporations and a two-member ward system in municipal councils.
The high court’s order will be crucial in elections to the 20 municipal corporations including BMC, Thane, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nijampur, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Pinpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nagpur and Chandrapur.
Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde said, ‘’The multi-member ward system will make the development work in the wards easier and faster.’’
The urban development minister said a three-member ward system in municipal corporations was introduced in 2001 by then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh but it was scrapped in 2006. In 2011, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan introduced a two-member ward system for municipal corporations and a four-member system for councils.
Further, in 2016, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis replaced it with a four-member system for corporations and a three-member system for councils. However, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in December 2019 scrapped it and reverted to the single-member ward system.
