BMC Elections: BJP wants separate manifesto for Civic polls

By Varun Singh – Mid-Day

Promises made ahead of polls by politicians are rarely kept, but the BJP feels it’s important the people know who’s making them. So, its coalition with the Shiv Sena and RPI (A) notwithstanding, the BJP, for the first time, is all set to release a separate manifesto for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. According to party insiders, a joint manifesto often ends up appearing as the mouthpiece of one party while the voice of others in the alliance is lost.

“We have formed a team comprising 12 people, who are currently developing the manifesto. It will highlight all the work done by us in the last five years. We will focus on important points covered from our previous manifesto and will ensure that our achievements are also noticed by the people,” said a BJP insider.

Teamwork
The party has even formed a 12-member team that’s working on the manifesto and their final meeting would be on January 10, where the layout and other details would be discussed.  The committee is being headed by ex-MLA Hemendra Mehta and consists of senior members like Ashish Shelar, Bhalchandra Shirsat, Shailaja Girkar, Atul Bhatkalkar and a few others.

When quizzed, Vivekanand Gupta, secretary, Mumbai BJP, said, “The party is coming out with a vision document for the city of Mumbai — how the city should be and how the party is going to function. We will also have a joint manifesto, but right now there are people in the party who do want a separate one to be there.”

BJP has 28 corporators heading important committees like improvement, tree, education and women & child welfare. For the last five years even the deputy mayor in the BMC has been from the party. Now, BJP is keen on highlighting all these posts and portfolios held by its members and the work done. The party is even planning to get the opinion of the youth on what kind of development and enterprises they want to see happening in the city.

Guarded response

The allies are, naturally, wary. “We will soon have a meeting, where Uddhav Thackeray, Gopinath Munde, Sudhir Mungantiwar and I will be present. Our main motive would be to have a single manifesto for the alliance.  If there are different manifestos, it would lead to confusion amongst the public as the development agenda has to be the same. I am for one manifesto for the whole coalition,” said RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale.

“There should only be one manifesto in an alliance. However, what Uddhavji decides would be final,” said Shiv Sena MLA Abhijit Adsul.

Source: Mid-Day

BMC Elections 2012: Civic polls to test Uddhav’s leadership

Makarand Gadgil, makarand.g@livemint.com

The forthcoming municipal elections in Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital, and nine other cities in Maharashtra hold the key to the fortunes of Shiv Sena​ executive president Uddhav Thackeray, under whose leadership the party lost two consecutive assembly elections—in 2004 and 2009.

The Sena, in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party​ (BJP), has controlled the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) since 1985 except during 1991-94.

Control of MCGM is critical since it has a budget of Rs.20,417 crore, much more than that of several smaller states such as Goa, Mizoram and Manipur. Though a little over 50% of the municipal body’s funds are consumed by salaries and other administrative expenses, the ruling combine still controls funds that run into thousands of crores for “developmental work”. Losing control of this can cost Thackeray dearly, according to political observers, who say that a failure to get elected could push many Sena members into shifting their loyalties to estranged and more aggressive cousin Raj Thackeray​’s Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS).

After the last assembly elections in 2009, the Sena was relegated to the fourth position and won fewer seats than its alliance partner BJP. That meant it had to concede the position of leader of the opposition in the state assembly to the BJP. In Mumbai, while the Sena won four assembly segments, the MNS secured six. The MNS won 13 seats in the assembly elections and is estimated to have spoiled the chances of Sena-BJP candidates in at least 35-40 seats.

Much depends on whether the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party​ (NCP), coalition partners at the central and state level, manage to strike an alliance for the local polls. In 2007, both parties contested civic polls separately, helping the Sena-BJP combine win 110 seats in a House of 227. This will also mark the first major electoral test for Prithviraj Chavan, since becoming chief minister in November, 2010. He’s keen to consolidate his position by wresting MCGM from the Sena, as is his deputy Ajit Pawar​, who now virtually controls the NCP in the state.

To counter the splitting of the vote of the “Marathi Manoos” (native of Maharashtra) with the MNS, the Shiv Sena has roped in a third partner—the Ramdas Athavale faction of the Republican Party of India​ (RPI), which represents the neo-Buddhist section of Maharashtra’s Dalit population. Dalits form 18.5% of Maharashtra’s population. Of this, 7.5% are neo-Buddhists.

If the Congress and the NCP form an alliance, the Sena will find it difficult to retain control over MCGM as the party is not only facing anti-incumbency but also a division of its core constituency, said columnist and political commentator Pratap Asbe.

If the Shiv Sena loses control over MCGM, a large section of the party’s cadre and lower-rung functionaries will switch loyalties to MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Asbe said.

Noted Dalit thinker and writer Gangadhar Pantavane said the “Dalit population has historically eyed Hindu supremacist forces with suspicion. Just because Athavale has joined hands with these forces, his followers won’t necessarily vote for the Sena-BJP.”

Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut dismissed the prospect of defeat. “Because of our track record on the developmental front, we are sure we will manage to secure a simple majority with help from our allies.”

Source: Live Mint

Civic Polls 2012: Election expenses for Maharashtra civic polls hiked

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s state Election Commission on Tuesday significantly enhanced the expense limits for the forthcoming civic, zila parishad and gram panchayat elections.

The decision was announced by state election commissioner Neela Satyanarayan after she announced the schedules for the zila parishad and gram panchayat (Feb 7) and civic bodies poll (Februry 16), across the state.

For the A-grade Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the expense limit has been hiked from Rs 135,000 to Rs 500,000. Each candidate in B-grade corporations like Pune and Nagpur will now be able to spend Rs 400,000 from the existing limit of only Rs 100,000.

For C-grade municipal corporations like Thane, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, the limit has been increased from Rs 100,000 to Rs 400,000.

Similarly, it will be Rs 300,000 (from existing Rs 100,000) in D-grade civic bodies like Ulhasnagar, Solapur, Akola and Amravati.

In the Zila Parishad elections, a new expense limit, from existing Rs 60,000 to Rs 300,000 has been allowed while for Gram Panchayat Samitis, it has been upped from Rs 40,000 to Rs 200,000.

In yet another major relief, the travel expenses of important leaders or star campaigners would not be included in the election expenses of the candidate for whom they campaign during the elections.

All contesting candidates would be required to submit the day’s expense accounts related to polls and campaigning by 2 pm the following day.

Source: IBN Live

BMC Elections 2012: The cost of BMC polls: Rs500cr!

Published: Friday, Jan 6, 2012, 8:45 IST
By Shubhangi Khapre | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The air in Mumbai is abuzz with the battle for the municipal corporation. With the civic polls scheduled for February 16, political parties are busy devising strategies and roping in star campaigners to lure voters and eventually rule the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Conservative estimates by political managers of the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) suggest that the battle for 227 seats will be a whopping Rs500-crore affair.

The state’s chief election commissioner Neela Satyanarayan said as per laid norms, candidates contesting the civic polls can spend Rs1.5 lakh each. She added that the amount has been increased to Rs5 lakh taking into account the inflation in the past five years. However, the parties are amused with the ceiling and have termed it impractical.

They openly admit that it is impossible for them to adhere to the limit set by the state election commission. Leaders who control the purse strings of major parties admitted that the average funds required per candidate is Rs1 crore.

With the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI alliance sure to contest all 227 seats and the Congress and NCP likely to do the same (if they form an alliance), there would be 454 serious candidates in the fray. At Rs1 crore per candidate, the poll budget touches Rs454 crore without even considering other players.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, too, has threatened to field 227 candidates. However, even if it concentrates only on its strongholds and fields 15-25 candidates it will still spend crores because of its aggressive style of campaigning. Lesser known players such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have smaller stakes but high budgets.

In a tactical move, mainstream parties and their alliances often deploy the services of extras to make a dent into each other’s vote bank. Such candidates spend at least Rs25-30 lakh each.

Estimates show there are at least 125 such candidates in the fray. “Earlier, we would pacify our supporters with a plate of bhel puri or vada pav. Today, they demand a sumptuous lunch and dinner with chicken/mutton biryani and drinks. The changing lifestyle of our leaders and workers has resulted in the poll expenditure shooting up drastically. Also, the cars used during our campaign trails are top models complete with air-condition,” said a sitting corporator on condition of anonymity.

A sitting corporator from the Congress concurs. “We have to reach out to maximum people during the 12 days of campaigning. The amount spent on petrol and diesel itself is Rs25-30 lakh. We also have to manage unlimited number of rallies and meetings. The cost of publicity material for each ward is Rs20 lakh,” he said. “We also seek help from star campaigners/ central ministers/ state ministers who travel only by helicopters. A private plane costs Rs75,000 per hour.”

Senior BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said the election commission’s ceiling is aimed at restricting excessive expenditure during the polls. “The purpose is good, but political parties have to provide additional funds to ensure an effective campaign aimed at luring voters spread across different wards,” he said.

“Mumbai is the country’s financial capital and parties have to come up with various techniques to reach out to voters. The aggressive campaign comes at a price. Almost 50% of the funds are used on transportation and the remaining on publicity material and rallies,” a senior cabinet minister from the NCP told DNA.

Sources in the election commission told DNA that the poll budgets often run into crores and exceed the prescribed limit for individual candidates. This is because the funds released for campaigning under the party banner are not accounted for in the expenditure of a candidate. “A candidate has to provide details of his expenditure which should not exceed Rs5 lakh. But he is not bound to explain the whopping expenditure incurred by his party on star campaigners,” said an election commission official.

With corruption being the buzzword in the country at present, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has asked his ministers and party officials to cut down on their expenditure for the polls. “We have been bluntly told to cut down cost on hiring private planes for our rallies,” said a senior NCP minister.