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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This...

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This development, confirmed by high-ranking party insiders, follows the realization that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) effectively ceded its claims on the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to protect the alliance, facilitating a “Mumbai for BJP, Kalyan for Shinde” power-sharing formula. The compromise marks a complete role reversal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Both the political parties were in alliance with each other for over 25 years before 2017 civic polls. Back then the BJP used to get the post of Deputy Mayor while the Shiv Sena always enjoyed the mayor’s position. In 2017 a surging BJP (82 seats) had paused its aggression to support the undivided Shiv Sena (84 seats), preferring to be out of power in the Corporation to keep the saffron alliance intact. Today, the numbers dictate a different reality. In the recently concluded elections BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai with 89 seats, while the Shinde faction secured 29. Although the Shinde faction acted as the “kingmaker”—pushing the alliance past the majority mark of 114—the sheer numerical gap made their claim to the mayor’s post untenable in the long run. KDMC Factor The catalyst for this truce lies 40 kilometers north of Mumbai in Kalyan-Dombivali, a region considered the impregnable fortress of Eknath Shinde and his son, MP Shrikant Shinde. While the BJP performed exceptionally well in KDMC, winning 50 seats compared to the Shinde faction’s 53, the lotter for the reservation of mayor’s post in KDMC turned the tables decisively in favor of Shiv Sena there. In the lottery, the KDMC mayor’ post went to be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidate. The BJP doesn’t have any such candidate among elected corporatros in KDMC. This cleared the way for Shiv Sena. Also, the Shiv Sena tied hands with the MNS in the corporation effectively weakening the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s alliance with them. Party insiders suggest that once it became clear the BJP would not pursue the KDMC Mayor’s chair—effectively acknowledging it as Shinde’s fiefdom—he agreed to scale down his demands in the capital. “We have practically no hope of installing a BJP Mayor in Kalyan-Dombivali without shattering the alliance locally,” a Mumbai BJP secretary admitted and added, “Letting the KDMC become Shinde’s home turf is the price for securing the Mumbai Mayor’s bungalow for a BJP corporator for the first time in history.” The formal elections for the Mayoral posts are scheduled for later this month. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—led by the Shiv Sena (UBT)—has vowed to field candidates, the arithmetic heavily favors the ruling alliance. For Eknath Shinde, accepting the Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai is a tactical retreat. It allows him to consolidate his power in the MMR belt (Thane and Kalyan) while remaining a partner in Mumbai’s governance. For the BJP, this is a crowning moment; after playing second fiddle in the BMC for decades, they are poised to finally install their own “First Citizen” of Mumbai.

Voters leaning towards MVA being removed, claims Oppn

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Voters leaning towards MVA being removed, claims Oppn

Mumbai: Leaders from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Friday alleged that names of voters leaning towards the opposition parties were being removed from the electoral rolls for the upcoming Maharashtra elections.


Addressing a news conference, leaders of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) claimed there is no transparency in the functioning of the Election Commission (ECI), and its officers are working under pressure from the ruling parties.


They said the MVA would raise the issue with the ECI. Assembly polls in the state will be held on November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23.


The leaders, especially Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, demanded the removal of state Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla to ensure free and fair polls.


Patole alleged that the ECI’s form no 7, meant to delete names from the voters list for different reasons, is being used to remove the names of voters leaning towards the opposition parties, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were behind the exercise.


“Names of voters leaning towards the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) are being removed from the voters list. This is being done because the BJP is losing polls,” Patole said.


The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, said that the ECI should not accept form no 7. “We have observed that seats where the MVA received a lead in the Lok Sabha elections have seen deletion of 2,500 to 10,000 voters,” the Congress leader said.


Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and leader of opposition the council Ambadas Danve claimed that names of 6,000 voters were missing from the list in the Nashik Central assembly seat, and no cognisance was taken about this despite raising the issue with the collector.


He claimed that in Aurangabad Central and Sillod seats, represented by the ruling parties, nearly 27,000 voters were added to the electoral rolls.


NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad demanded that the ECI publish a white paper on the voters list.

He said the print of the voters’ list is so bad that it cannot be read and claimed that even the names, addresses, and photos were wrong. “The way the election is being conducted is suspicious. It is shameful,” Awhad added.


Patole further demanded that the commission cancel the appointment of 50,000 “yojana doots” appointed to promote the government’s welfare programmes, who are being paid Rs 50,000. He alleged that the “yojana doots” are private individuals and they belong to the RSS and BJP.


Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai said booth-level officers of political parties should accompany poll officials going to the homes of voters above the age of 85 and physically challenged individuals so that they can exercise their franchise.


He said that on average, there are 4,500 such voters in suburban Mumbai and 6,400 in the city.

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