Civic body ward draw as per law: Maharashtra poll panel

The state election commission (SEC) on Monday filed a reply before the Bombay High Court claiming that the draws for ward reservation for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal (BMC) elections are legal.

It argued that taking into account the 2001 census data while declaring the wards on November 5 was a wise move since ward-wise data of reservation will be made available only two years later.

The reply, filed by under-secretary D M Kanad, states, “Reservation of the 227 wards is not available… The reservation is fixed as per rules laid down in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act.”

The HC was hearing a plea filed by Andheri resident Rupesh Andhari challenging the validity of the SEC’s move. He also sought a direction to the SEC to proportion the number of wards to the voting population in the city, as recorded in Census 2011, fix boundaries of wards and to determine the proportionate number of reserved seats before declaring a draw for declaration of reservation for civic wards.