Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his residence in Varsha announced that the elections to the BMC will be held in January. Earlier Devendra Fadnavis said, “only God and the courts know when the BMC elections will be held,”. Fadnavis made his comments to media persons invited for Diwali. Asked about the delay in BMC elections and whether they would be held in December this year or January 2003, Fadnavis said he was unable to tell as it was the EC and courts that would decide.
When pointed out that the BMC had become a one-man show, and asked if it was correct to continue with an administrator indefinitely, Fadnavis said in a democracy, it is not good that an administrator should continue for so long. ‘SC ordered status quo, the state has no role to play in holding polls’ Speaking to reporters about the stalled BMC elections on Tuesday, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said,
The term of the BMC House ended in March this year. Instead of holding polls, the municipal commissioner was appointed as administrator for six months as there was no clarity on the electoral quota for the Other Backward Castes. It is now more than six months and polls still haven’t been held. The hearing on the Shiv Sena party name and symbol before the Election Commission of India is set to begin in November.
CM Shinde, meanwhile, said two important things that he wants to offer Mumbaikars are pothole-free roads and a beautiful city. He said the Bhoomi pujan for the Rs 5,000 crore concretisation of Mumbai’s roads will be held as soon as the work orders are issued; they are expected by the month-end.
“When I became chief minister, the first thing I did is call (I S) Chahal (BMC commissioner) and asked him why must there be potholes perennially. I told him that I do not want potholes and asked for a plan to be drawn up to concretise all roads.” Over the next two years, Shinde said Mumbai’s annual pothole problem will be resolved with the road concretisation project, which will go hand in hand with the city’s beautification project.
CM Shinde said all infrastructure projects will be completed on time, with the first phase of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway from Shirdi in Nashik to Nagpur being inaugurated in November. Shinde said he would be making a trip to Ayodhya in November.
The Shiv Sena has controlled the cash-rich Mumbai municipal corporation for three decades. In the wake of Shinde’s revolt and the split in the Sena, the BMC elections hold greater importance for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, which suffered a blow as the Thackeray-led government collapsed in June.
