BMC conducts reservation draw; Ravi Raja, Ghosalkar lose their old wards

Mumbai, Nov 11 (PTI) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday conducted ward reservation lottery for the coming civic elections, reserving 114 of the 227 wards for women candidates.

Senior corporators who lost their traditional wards due to reservations included former Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Ravi Raja (Ward 176), BJP's Neil Somaiya (Ward 108), Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Tejasvee Ghosalkar (Ward 1), and BJP's Harshita Narwekar (Ward 226).

Two wards are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), 15 for Scheduled Castes (SC), 61 for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 149 for General category candidates.

Among the 114 seats reserved for women, one is for the ST category, eight for SCs, 31 for OBCs and 74 for the General category.

The lottery, conducted at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir auditorium in Bandra, took place in the presence of BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and other senior civic officials.

Students from government schools were invited to draw lots.

A large number of political workers, including poll ticket aspirants and their supporters, thronged the venue. The BMC had arranged live screening outside the auditorium and also streamed the proceedings on a cable TV channel.

As per the BMC release issued last week, the draft reservation list will be published on November 14 and citizens can file their objections and suggestions from November 14 to 3 pm on November 20.

The final notification will be issued after considering the objections and suggestions received, the release said.

The date for the BMC election, pending for more than three years, is yet to be announced. The polling process is to be completed by January 31, as per a Supreme Court order. PTI KK KRK