BMC Elections 2012: No real work done, no clear favourite

 

By Ravikiran Deshmukh – Mid-day

The Brihanmmumbai Municipal Corporation, with a population of over 1 crore citizens to cater to, and an annual budget of over Rs 22,000 crore, is up for grabs. Citizens of this supposedly world-class metropolis are now being reminded of the development work done by the ruling alliance, while the party in Opposition is hard at work, to bring down a 17-year-long rule.

It is easy for any political party – with a fixed vote bank – to appeal to or awaken the regional spirit of the electorate, to ensure maximum votes and another tenure. And a gullible and easily convinced electorate rarely asks crucial questions about the development made by the city, vis- -vis international parameters. In this way, the electoral procedure gradually becomes a complete and utter sham, a formality, and parties find it easy to retain power.

The political atmosphere in the state is heating up, as the civic polls near. Unlike his predecessors who enjoyed cordial relationships with the Shiv Sena and BJP leaders, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan recently launched into a scathing attack on them, appealing to his party men to work relentlessly and put an end to the 17-year-long corrupt rule of the saffron parties.

Chavan has also rolled up his socks and taken the initiative to put an end to internal feuding within his party. He recently made the past and present chiefs of the city Congress unit – MP Gurudas Kamat and Kripashankar Singh – sit together to sort out their differences.

But the Congress will certainly find itself in hot water, after the damage done to the party’s image by the recent statements made by North Mumbai MP Sanjay Nirupam and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi. Both made inappropriate remarks about the status of North Indians in Mumbai. While Nirupam claimed that services in Mumbai will disintegrate into chaos if his fellow Biharis and UPites went on strike, Gandhi asked North Indians how long they would continue to beg in Mumbai.

The Congress went into a huddle to salvage the situation and asked Nirupam to shut up, but faced the flak for Gandhi’s statement. The party is bracing itself to face some tough questions while campaigning for the upcoming civic elections.

And what’s happening in the Sena-BJP camp? Wary of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the Sena camp appears upbeat, with the Ramdas Athawale-led RPI joining its league, as this ensures the party a certain percentage of Dalit votes, which might tilt the balance in its favour. In the meantime, the Sena-RPI closeness is sending disturbing signals to the BJP camp.

Once a party of firebrand leaders known for their fighting spirit and their ability to boost the morale of party workers, BJP today appears to be in deep trouble, facing an identity crisis of sorts. The party cannot claim credit for any revolutionary struggle that moved the masses. The Anna Hazares and Raju Shettis are leading from the front for the cause of common citizens. Both Hazare and Shetti seem to have filled a void created by the absence of strong political leadership for the middle classes.

Now, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray has announced a qualifying examination for all those who wish to obtain tickets to fight in the BMC elections. All aspirants will have to sit for a one-and-half hour exam. All has been quiet on the MNS-Sena front, with both parties avoiding confrontation. Traditional Marathi voters want both Raj and Uddhav to come together, but both parties know that sharing the benefits of power may become tricky. Who would want to lose control over the BMC, with an annual budget of Rs 22,000 crore, the power of doling and withholding building permissions, reservations and de-reservations of pricey plots?

So when it comes to the interest of Mumbaikars, no party can claim that it has led from the front for the sake of a public cause. Political parties should just be thanking their lucky stars that nobody asks them how many plots in Mumbai were grabbed for commercial exploitation, how many open spaces, grounds and gardens were grabbed by construction czars and slum lords, why there is no space available for parking and civic amenities, why people don’t get any compassionate treatment at BMC offices, why so many employees get trapped in the Anti-Corruption Bureau nets, why the streets are lined with garbage and filth, and why BMC teams are so late with their fogging, pesticide and insecticide treatment.

BMC Elections 2012: Gurudas Kamat, giant killer and Congress pillar

Congress MP Gurudas Kamat, who became a minister of state with independent charge of drinking water and sanitation in the recent reshuffle, is seen as a giant killer in Mumbai’s electoral politics and known for his organisational skills.

Elected from Mumbai North-West, the 57-year-old has in his four decade-long political career defeated some of the biggest names like Subramaniam Swamy, the late Pramod Mahajan and Jaywantiben Mehta.

A soft-spoken lawyer and an avid badminton, table tennis and cricket player, Kamat’s organizational skills since his days in student politics were noticed by the late Rajiv Gandhi, who asked him to head the Youth Congress in 1987.

Kamat was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984. He has been a strong pillar for the party in Mumbai and has been elected as MP five times from the city.

“Kamat has always worked sincerely and seriously on any task,” said a long-time associate, Zakir Ahmed, the present general secretary of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee.

Projects stuck for long – like the Mumbai metro-rail and a mega-project to augment the city’s water supply – got central clearance after Kamat called on party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He was earlier minister of state for IT and communications — and the junior minister for home affairs.

 

Source: The Times of India

BMC Elections 2012: Cong-NCP put up a united face to take on Shiv Sena-BJP combine

Mumbai, Nov 26 (PTI) In an attempt to bring the warring factions of Mumbai Congress together, the party has included former union ministers Gurudas Kamat and Murli Deora in the committee to discuss seat sharing with the NCP for the crucial civic elections to be held in February. Factions led by Kamat and Deora, both former city presidents and the current city chief Kripashankar Singh have been at loggerheads for long. The party is determined to wrest Asia’s largest civic body from the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance which has ruled it for the last 15 years and wants to ensure that factionalism is not an hurdle in achieving its goal, party sources said.

The Congress panel for Mumbai comprises city unit chief Kripashankar Singh, Leader of opposition in the civic body Rajhans Singh, Industries Minister Narayan Rane, Women and Child development minister Varsha Gaikwad, Textiles Minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan, Murli Deora and Gurudas Kamat. Kamat is also member of the state committee that will decide seat sharing with NCP for ten municipal corporations, the elections for which will also be held in February. The state committee is made of Chief Minister Prithvraj Chavan, MPCC president Manikrao Thakre, Kripashankar SIngh, Industries Minister Narayan Rane and Forest minister Patangrao Kadam. The NCP has also formed similar committees. It’s state committee includes Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state president Madhukar Pichad, PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Home Minister R R Patil and Rural development Minister Jayant Patil. Apart from Mumbai, elections will be held for Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Ulhasnagar, Nashik and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations.

Source: IBN Live

BMC Elections 2012: Smart voting for 2012 BMC polls not secure?

Even as the Maharashtra State Election Commission readies for its first experiment with “smart voting” involving computer kiosks through which citizens can cast their vote remotely during the 2012 municipal corporation elections, a New Delhi-based organisation has alleged that the software solution to be used by the frontrunners for the project compromises the security and secrecy of the process.

In letters written to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and the state Election Commission, the Center for Transforming India claimed that the e-voting platform proposed by IGate-Patni (a solution from Canadian firm Intelivote Systems Inc) does not completely protect the identity of the voter. “Further, it is also insecure to any type of vote rigging,” said the letter signed by Chief Trustee of the organisation, Pankaj Sharma. The letter goes on to state that electronic voting in Canadian urban local bodies — where Intelivote’s e-voting software was used — was marked by glitches, and in one case even required an extension of voting hours.

Source: The Indian Express

Congress-NCP to decide on alliance for Mumbai civic poll

The ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are close to strike an alliance for the crucial election to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation in a bid to end the saffron Shiv Sena-BJP alliance rule. Congress and NCP are also forced to seriously consider the alliance, despite opposition from within, especially when the Republican Party of India (Athavale) representing a crucial dalit community has joined hands with Sena-BJP combine in the coming elections slated for February-March next year.

Further, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, estranged nephew of Sena chief Bal Thackeray, has already announced his party’s decision to contest all 227 seats on the Mumbai civic body. Of the 227 seats, Congress, which has won 17 Assembly seats in 2009 elections, may contest 162 seats leaving 65 seats to NCP.

A final decision on the electoral pact is expected at the meeting on Wednesday evening slated between the Congress team led by the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and NCP group chaired by the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Already a first round of talks between the state party unit presidents of both the Congress and NCP held last week and ended on a positive note that the alliance was the need of the hour to unseat the Shiv Sena and its alliance partners from India’s richest civic body with an annual budget of Rs 22,000 crore.

Congress minister, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard “Both the parties are quite serious on facing the ensuing elections together as they know that going solo will benefit the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI alliance. Congress and NCP, if joined by the Samajwadi Party can be strong enough to take on Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI combine. Besides, MNS will eat into the Sena’s votes which will be helpful for Congress-NCP.” The minister however, clarified that the selection of candidates especially would be quite crucial to take on the Shiv Sena-BJP- RPI.” The minister recalled that Shiv Sena-BKP alliance retained their supremacy after the 2007 elections as they benefited due to division of votes in the wake of lack of alliance between Congress and NCP.

NCP state party president Madhukar Pichad was quite bullish over his party’s alliance with the Congress. “Our party president Sharad Pawar during the recent party meeting had said the Congress party can take its decision on forging alliance with NCP within 15 days. This was never an ultimatum but arrive at a decision so that necessary preparations will go into fighting the ensuing elections. Congress has shown desire to strike an alliance. Wednesday’s meeting is quite crucial in this regard,” he noted.

Leaders from Congress and NCP believe that Shiv Sena-BJP may not succeed to lure enmass voters from the dalit especially Nav Boudh despite alliance with RPI’s faction led by former MP Ramdas Athavale. “Hindu dalits, who have been traditional supporters of Shiv Sena in particular, are also agitated over Sena’s move to leave them in lurch and woo Athavale led RPI. If Congress and NCP play cards well we will be able to encash the disgruntlement within the Hindu dalits and also Nav Boudh,” Congress minister noted.

Source: Business Standard

Differences buried; Cong, NCP to fight BMC poll

After weeks of political posturing, the ruling Congress and NCP on Wednesday evening finally hammered out an alliance between them for the February 2012 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll, a move that will ensure against the division of traditional Democratic Front (DF) votes.

The Congress-NCP alliance will definitely pose a major challenge for the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI (A) combine, which is already facing a formidable opposition in the Raj Thackeray-led MNS in the civic poll. The MNS is contesting the civic poll all alone.

At a meeting of DF leaders including Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and his deputy Ajit Pawar held at the State-run Sahydri guest house, the Congress and NCP decided to join hands to take on the three-party grand alliance in the poll to the Sena-BJP combine-controlled BMC, which has a total annual budgetary outlay over Rs 21,000 crore.

Apart from the BMC, the Congress and NCP will also contest the polls to the Thane and Nashik Municipal Corporations as an alliance.

Though they decided on contesting the civic polls together, the two DF partners did not arrive at a seat-sharing deal for the polls to three civic bodies, including BMC.

The Congress and NCP leaders are to meet once again on November 30 to deliberate on the sharing of seats for the three civic bodies and also decide on a pre-poll alliance for other municipal corporations, including Pune and Nagpur.

The move by the Congress and NCP to contest the BMC polls is bound consolidate the chances of the DF partners in the civic polls. In the 2007 BCM polls, the DF partners – who had contested separately then-had suffered badly owing to the division of votes between them.

Source: Daily Pioneer

Want change, but won’t vote

Though the majority of Mumbaiites are tired of the Shiv Sena-BJP rule in the civic body, only 52% wish to cast their votes in the civic polls, which are likely to be held in the first week of February. Ironically, 88% of those surveyed want the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ensure more participation from citizens in matters of civic governance. Analysts and activists blame this paradox on a host of reasons, from disillusionment with politics to apathy and class bias. Many blame Team Anna and the anti-corruption movement for the vilification of politics, which has in turn led to such reluctance to vote.

“Thanks to Anna Hazare’s movement and the ‘sab neta chor hain’ mood, people are constantly questioning the credibility of politics and politicians. This is frustrating. People don’t realise that the way to change such a situation is through voting,” said Sarah George, assistant professor of humanities at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of architecture and environmental studies.

Bhaskar Prabhu, an RTI activist who will be contesting as an Independent in the civic polls, blames the BMC and political parties for people’s lack of interesting in voting. “People want to participate in governance matters, but the BMC’s working and political scheming to dissuade people from participating put citizens off,” he said.

Prabhu quotes the example of Advanced Locality Managements and Dattak Vasti Yojnas (cleanliness management groups), schemes devised to encourage people’s participation at the local level in civic matters. “All these started as a way to ensure greater public participation. But politicians have hijacked them and posted their cronies run it, even as a willing administration looked on,” he said.

Ranjeet Chavan, director-general of the All India Institute of Self Government, feels that voting in the civic elections can be a “class issue”. “Generally, the upper middle class does not need to depend on political leaders for their civic services to be met. Unless the election commission has a carrot-and-stick policy, they are unlikely to vote,” he said. “That’s not the case with the lower class and, to an extent, with the middle class.”

Prabhu agrees. “Certain sections of the society remember the BMC only when their cars don’t run on smooth roads during the monsoon. They are unlikely to vote to elect civic leaders,” he said.

Most analysts feel that this apathy will not change even if there are more non-political candidates, such as those backed by citizens. This belief is backed by the fact that even after the November 26 attacks, the south Mumbai constituency, the worst affected by the attacks, recorded a dismal voter turnout of 43.33% during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. This, despite the fact that the constituency saw a high-profile Independent candidate in Meera Sanyal, a corporate banking executive and political novice.

Citing Sanyal’s case, Prabhu said: “Even Independent, citizen-backed candidates have to be selected carefully. History shows that people will not accept any Independent candidate foisted on them.”

Chavan shares the same sentiment. “Such citizen candidates cannot be an alternative to political leadership.”

Source: Hindustan Times

‘Women better than men as corporators’

MUMBAI: Women corporators of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have fared marginally better than their male counterparts, a survey conducted by an NGO has found.

The revelation comes at a time when women’s reservation is being deliberated upon in the run-up to the BMC elections. These will be the first major polls to be held in Maharashtra after the state legislature reserved 50% seats in local bodies for women.

TOI had on Tuesday reported how several corporators skipped general body meetings while some merely registered their presence.

The NGO, Praja Foundation, has ranked the Congress’s Meena Desai as the best corporator in its report card. BJP corporators Mohan Mithbaokar and Gyanmurti Sharma have been ranked second and third, respectively.

According to the study, a woman corporator was more likely to perform better than her male counterpart. On an average, women corporators got 60% marks while the men got 58%. The best performers (those who scored between 80% and 100%) comprised just 1% of both men and women corporators. While 9% of male corporators were at the bottom, scoring less than 35% marks, only 1% of women fell in that category.

“I start my day at 6.30 am and sometimes my office is open till late at night. It certainly feels very good when the public acknowledges your work,” Desai told TOI.

The parameters used were attendance, criminal record, number and quality of questions and so on. The corporators were also judged on people’s perception of them in their constituencies and utilization of funds. The report card covers the functioning of 227 corporators for the period between April 2010 and Mach 2011.

“Looking at the problems of governance and the increasing needs of citizens, there is a need for a continuous dialogue and appraisal of the working of elected representatives. Keeping this in mind, the report card was prepared,” said Nitai Mehta, managing trustee, Praja Foundation.

Party-wise analysis shows that the BJP has done better than the Shiv Sena and the Congress. Of its 28 corporators, only one has scored below 50% marks, 17 have scored between 50% and 70% marks and 10 secured 70%-100% marks. Of the 75 Congress corporators, about 15 have marks between 70% and 100%, 40 scored between 50 and 70%. The rest have scored less than 50%.

The Shiv Sena, which heads the civic body and has 80 corporators, has only 12 who have scored between 70% and 100% marks. While 53 corporators have scored between 50% and 70%, 15 have got below 50% marks. MNS corporators were the worst performers with most of them ending up with the lowest grades.

Source: The Times of India

Cong, NCP announce alliance for BMC polls

In a significant development on Wednesday, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – partners in the ruling Democratic Front in the state – agreed to forge an alliance for the civic polls in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik. The three municipal bodies including Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), one of the richest in India, are currently ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. The elections to municipal corporations are likely to be held in early February.

If the Congress-NCP contest the election as alliance partners, Mumbai will witness a triangular fight between them, the Sena-BJP-RPI combine and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

On Wednesday, senior leaders of the Congress and the NCP – chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, state Congress president Manikrao Thakre, Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, state NCP president Madhukar Pichad, public works minister Chhagan Bhujbal and other NCP leaders – held the first round of talks.

Kripashankar Singh confirmed the development. “We will meet soon to discuss seat-sharing in Mumbai, Thane and Nasik. A decision on forging alliance at other places will be taken on November 30.”

This time around, the leaders from both the parties are wary of losing the BMC to the saffron combine again as it will give the opposition a much-needed boost. “If we want to counter the Sena-BJP effectively, it is necessary to defeat them in a crucial civic body like the BMC. Besides, people are unhappy with the bad governance in the cities run by them and expect us to provide a better alternative,” said a key NCP leader.

They are also worried that the Republican Party of India, which has considerable following among Dalit voters has joined hands with the saffron combine. Dalits are traditionally seen as Congress voters.

Though the two parties have announced a tie-up for now, both sides are still trading cautiously. Five years ago, in spite of announcing an alliance, the Congress and NCP went their own ways as they could not reach an agreement over sharing seats. This enabled the Sena-BJP alliance to win, albeit by a wafer-thin majority.

Sources in the Congress said the progress of the alliance would depend on the seat-sharing formula. So far, the Congress has shown willingness to leave 45 seats for its alliance partner. The Congress currently has 83 members, while the NCP has 14 corporators, in the 277-member civic house.

The Sena-BJP-RPI combine has already announced a tie-up and their seat-sharing talks are in the final stage.

Source: Hindustan Times

Maharashtra: Congress, NCP wary of each other

Although the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to join hands for the ensuing civic polls in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik, an alliance is unlikely for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad due to local political conditions.

A senior NCP office-bearer told DNA, on condition of anonymity, that if these parties form an alliance in the city, then it would be difficult to allocate seats and would lead to rebellion. He said that as there are 10 panels out of 76 in Pune city, where both the parties have sitting corporators, it would be difficult to give
preference to any candidature.

Considering the high number of aspirants in both the parties, it would be difficult for either party to accommodate influential leaders in the list of candidates. If the alliance is formed, the quota of seats for each party would be reduced, making it more difficult to manage aspirants.

He said the NCP is in a very strong position in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) where an alliance with the Congress would result in reducing its strength. The NCP was formed in 1999. There has been no alliance of the Congress and the NCP in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad since then, even when civic polls were held in 2002 and 2007.

The Congress and the NCP, in a high level meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, struck an alliance for the civic polls, including those for the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMCC), Thane and Nashik.However, no decision was taken on the PMC polls. The matter would be discussed in another meeting on November 30.