Soon after the results of the BMC lottery for the upcoming civic polls reached the electorate, there was a collective disapproval of the outcome.
Soon after the results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) lottery for the upcoming civic polls reached the electorate, there was a collective disapproval of the outcome. While conscious citizens rued the dropping of people-friendly corporators, some dubbed the lottery system as a process to clip the wings of the voters themselves. Prominent among those who missed out on the lottery system are city’s very first citizen’s corporator Adolf D’Souza, Ashish Shelar, Asif Zakaria, Pramod Mandrekar and Rahebar Khan.
“We have never looked at a candidate for his caste or class. Now, looking for that will be like going against our grain to tag them. We know good people but never looked at them that way. Also, citizens’ movement is rooted in middle class and the middle class has been able to move beyond the excess baggage of OBC/SC/ST,” said Hansel D’Souza, who represents the constituency of Adolf D’Souza.
The Advanced Locality Management (ALM) of D’Souza’s ward will soon go into a huddle to select a candidate. “The process is very unfair. We are unlike a political party and will have to go through the process again,” said Ashoke Pandit from D’Souza’s ward.
People in Shellar’s ward who were very impressed with his work are now thinking of going the Juhu way in having their own candidate.
“We may now look for that option. There were so many projects in the pipeline and now who knows the new person will even understand the situation,” said Anandini Thakoor, chairperson of the H/West Ward Citizens’ Trust.
“The result is grossly unfair not only to the citizens but also to good corporators. They slog to establish themselves and now they will not be around. This very principle of lottery and reserving a seat nullifies the principle of democracy. Democracy means we have the right to choose. Through this you are limiting the right to choose outstanding people,” said Anil Joseph, a voter from H/West ward that has seen the most active residents’ movement and has also seen five out of six lose out their seats to reservation.
Some like Malabar Hill residents, however, played down the lottery.
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