It's all in the family for these neta couples from Mumbai

After the Assembly election results were declared on Sunday, three women were seen distributing sweets in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) the next day.

MLA Sanjay Potnis

The trio all corporators had their husbands as former corporators who had now gone on to victory in the state polls. A total of five corporators took a step further in their political career and entered the state Assembly.

Sunayna Potnis, the corporator of Vakola area in Santacruz (East) and wife of Kalina MLA Sanjay Potnis

Three of them have wives as corporators in the civic body Jyoti Alavani, Vile Parle (East) corporator is the wife of Vile Parle's BJP MLA Parag Alavani; Sunayna Potnis, Vakola corporator, is married to Kalina MLA Sanjay Potnis from Shiv Sena, and Sena's Chembur MLA Prakash Phaterpekar's wife Suprada, who is also a corporator from Chembur. While the men raise questions in the assembly, the women work for their areas in the corporation.

Jyoti Alavani, corporator from Vile Parle (East), and her husband, Parag Alavani, MLA of Vile Parle. File pics

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is still intact in the civic body. With the two parties expected to form government in the state, there will, hopefully, be better synergy and coordination between city and State. Projects which took years for approval earlier, may now be given a go-ahead faster.

While Suprada Phaterpekar is corporator in Chembur, her husband Prakash is the Chembur MLA

"With these politicians having a say in policy decisions, the corporators will now pitch for the projects that had been stalled during the Congress's rule," said a BMC source. If the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance does come together, several large projects are expected to be launched. The coastal road project would get an impetus; further phases of the Metro would also receive the civic body's right of way to the State at the earliest.

NGO speak
NGOs, however, hope no nepotism or an Adarsh sort of scam is repeated with the new government on its way to being formed. Nitai Mehta, founder of Praja Foundation, said, "The people of the state needed change and that was the reason why we saw new faces emerging as winners this election.

These couples should work for the betterment of the city and not indulge in corruption." Shyama Kulkarni, trustee of AGNI, another NGO, added, "The state needed change and clearly got it. But with two elected representatives working in two importance places, actual work should also happen."