Maharashtra Assembly passes bill to reverse previous govt's decision of increasing Mumbai civic body wards

Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde. File Pic

On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Assembly passed a bill reversing a decision of the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government to increase the number of wards in the Mumbai civic body from 227 to 236.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party supported the amendment to reverse the previous government's decision on wards in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) where the elections are due, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the NCP and and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena spoke against the amendment by highlighting a Supreme Court decision directing for a status quo, reported PTI.

But Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made it clear that the apex court directive was in another case pertaining to quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

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"Our ordinance is for reversing the number of wards from 236 to 227. There is no legal impediment," he said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray said the bill was "unconstitutional, just like the government".

But, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, "In a democracy, numbers are important. We have the majority. We have not acted unconstitutionally."

CM Eknath Shinde 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.

Even though he was the urban development minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led government, policy making is always a collective decision, said Eknath Shinde.

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Meanwhile, Congress legislator Amin Patel said ward delimitation was done to "benefit a particular party" and was not in the interest of the citizens of Mumbai.

Raees Sheikh (of the Samajwadi Party) said the delimitation of wards was a manipulation done to help a "particular party". It was done to target corporators from other parties who worked for several years by breaking the wards they represented, he added.

Speaker Rahul Narvekar said courts cannot decide on the enactment of a legislation. It is the prerogative of the legislature.

CM Eknath Shinde said his government received 892 complaints against the delimitation of wards by the previous government.

(With inputs from PTI)