Raju Sripad Pednekar, a former corporator of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, has approached the Bombay High Court (HC), challenging the ordinance passed by the current Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde’s government, reducing the number of wards in the Mumbai civic body – Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — to 227.
The Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had increased the number of wards to 236.
The ex-corporator moved the HC after the Supreme Court (SC) refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the HC.
The petitioner now told the HC that an earlier writ petition filed against the increase in the number of BMC wards was dismissed by the HC on the grounds that it was in accordance with the 2011 census. Further, the SC had rejected the appeal filed against the judgment of the HC, which upheld the increase in the number of BMC wards.
‘ORDINANCE IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL’
The petition stated the SC had directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct a delimitation exercise based on the increased number of seats and conduct the local body elections in Maharashtra for reserved seats, other than Other Backward Classes, including general seats. The SEC published the final notification of the delimitation as per 236 ward seats.
However, the Shinde government passed an ordinance reducing the number of seats because of which the entire exercise carried out by the State Election Commission was annulled. The petition states that the said ordinance nullifies the orders of the Supreme Court.
Further, it states that the ordinance is ex facie illegal and unconstitutional as it attempts to defeat, nullify and stultify the orders of the Supreme Court which require the SEC to conduct and complete the elections to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation without any delay on the basis of the delimitation carried out by the State Election Commission.
SEEKS STAY
The petition argued that the said ordinance is arbitrary and sought a stay on the ordinance passed by the current government, considering the delay in elections by six months.
“The impugned ordinance is also manifestly arbitrary as the very basis of its issuance is ex facie incorrect. The elections to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation are already overdue by more than six months contrary to the statutory provisions [sec 6(B)] and the Constitutional mandate of Art 243(E) & 243(U),” the petition read.
“If the impugned ordinance is not stayed, the SEC will not be able to conduct elections to the MMC on the basis of the delimitation as per order dt 4th May 2022, the elections to the MMC will be further delayed contrary to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the statutory and constitutional mandate,” it stated.
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