MUMBAI: With the SEC laying out the schedule for the run-up to the BMC polls and stating that final list of ward boundaries will be published on March 2, BMC elections are set to be delayed.
The term of the BMC House ends on March 8, 2022. If elections are announced before March 8, the current body of corporators will cease to exist and powers will be vested in the BMC chief.
A BMC official said, “Civic polls could happen either at end of March or the first week of April. We are already working on increasing the number of polling booths keeping in mind the Covid situation.”
During the 2017 civic polls, the elections were held in mid-February, and the lottery for ward reservation was held in October 2016. This time, this is yet to be done, and it will happen only after the process of suggestions/objections is completed and the final list of ward boundaries is out on March 2. Reservations for corporator seats are changed every five years through a system of lottery.
In the past, there have been instances when an administrator was appointed for BMC when elections got postponed. During D M Sukthankar’s tenure as BMC chief BMC polls were postponed. The House term ended in March 1984, and the then government appointed the BMC chief as ‘administrator.’ But civic officials said in the current Act, there is no provision to appoint an administrator.
