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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.

Women Safety on Cards

Updated: Nov 18, 2024

vWomen Safety

For the speedy disposal of cases of crimes against women, the state government took the decision to set up Special Courts. 25 Fast Track Courts are being proposed for disposal of criminal cases relating to the atrocities on women and mentally handicapped girls. The Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a bill that aims to establish special courts to ensure speedy trial of offences against women and children under the Shakti Act. The much needed proposal got the nod of the legislature however, it gathered a lot of dust in the Law and Judiciary department in Mantralaya before it could take off.


The government took this decision with an aim to conduct trials without delay in cases of certain offences against women and children. As per the decision, exclusive special courts were to be set up. Provisions for appointing a special public prosecutor for conducting trials and forming special police teams to probe the offences were also made. Presently, courts at Ahmednagar, Akola, Amaravati, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Beed, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Yawatmal, Thane, Pune & Kolhapur are in operation along with special court for Cases of Immoral trafficking at Mumbai. Prior to this the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, which provides for stricter punishment, including death penalty, for crimes against women, was passed unanimously by both the Houses of the legislature.


Everything went well at the initial state. The government announced that it will provide all required assistance for the speedy trial of cases of crime against women and children under the Shakti Act.


The government had also announced that as per the bill, exclusive special courts can be set up for hearing the cases or existing courts can be given that rank depending upon the situation. The government made all the arrangements to make provisions and infrastructure available. At the beginning 25 Fast Track Courts were being proposed for disposal of criminal cases relating to the atrocities on women and mentally handicapped girls. The proposal went through various administrative hurdles and after this the journey started but very slow.


Interestingly, with the formation of these new exclusive special courts, the speed of the trial remained the same. As per the survey, fast-track courts in Delhi dispose of a case in 122 days on an average, while a regular court takes 133 days. No different story in Mumbai.


So the question remains that why are fast-track courts failing to fulfil their purpose? Experts say fast-track courts operate no differently than regular courts. For one, they have similarly heavy caseloads.


A fast track court is set up for a category of disputes. These categories themselves have a large chunk of cases. So it is just like any other court hall in the district judiciary -- you have the court hall under individual judges who have anywhere between 50 to 100 cases listed per day.

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