Why Mahayuti issued notices to 118 corporators after an ‘urgent’ Mumbai land deal was blocked

“It is a routine procedure where our party seeks answers from our corporator members as to why they were not present at the floor of the house when the voting had taken place. The answers will be kept on record for our future course of party action,” Ganesh Khankar — leader of the house in BMC and BJP corporator told The Indian Express.

The tabled proposal stated that a civic owned plot in central Mumbai’s Wadala would be handed over to a private builder for redeveloping the existing housing tenements alongside developing new housing units on it. At present, the housing tenements are being occupied by municipal workers and families of traditional mill workers who have been living there as tenants. The proposal was listed as item number eight in the agenda, however, it was brought on top of the agenda for discussion citing it as an ‘urgent bill’ (UB). Following this, voting in the house was initiated when 119 members were present, which included 61 from the ruling alliance and 58 members from the opposition. In total, the corporator strength of BMC stands at 227.

According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) act, an UB will require three-fourth of the votes in its favour for clearance, unlike ordinary bills or proposals that require maximum votes in the floor of the house as per the present strength. During the time of voting, there were 61 members from the ruling alliance, while 58 members were there from the opposing. As per the specified ratio, the bill would have required 90 votes in its favour to obtain full clearance. However, since the entire opposition voted against it, the bill could only generate 61 votes in its favour.

In total, the BJP has 89 corporators, while the Sena has 29 corporators.

Amey Ghole, leader of the party from Sena in BMC said that his party has also written to all the 29 elected corporators from his party.

“From our party, very few corporators were absent on the day of the voting. We have sent letters to each one of them seeking a response behind their absence,” Ghole told Express.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the opposition parties maintained that they aren’t opposing the bill in general, however, the nature of it in which the Mahayuti wanted it to pass it.

Ashraf Azmi — Congress group leader and corporator said that this proposal got cleared in the civic standing committee earlier this month and as per the regulations it should have been brought into the house after 90 days.

“To ensure the bill gets cleared immediately the ruling alliance tabled it as an UB. This is not an urgent issue. Who is the BMC trying to benefit by clearing it so fast ? We are not questioning the proposal, but the way it was tabled,” Azmi told Express.

Sachin Padwal — Sena UBT corporator meanwhile said, “Earlier this month, the proposal of desilting Mithi River was tabled in the house as an UB and we voted for it because it is of public interest. A proposal pertaining to giving away land to a private builder is not related to public interest in any way. Therefore, we opposed it entirely.”