MUMBAI: As BMC polls near, BJP corporators and MLAs have launched a social media war against former alliance partner, Shiv Sena, with the hashtag #ShivsenaCheatsMumbaikar over the issue of corporator ward boundaries, a draft of which was submitted by the civic body to State Election Commission (SEC) few days back.
BJP members alleged mischief in submission of ward boundaries draft prepared by BMC to SEC. Tweets by BJP workers on the issue have the hashtag.
Andheri MLA Ameet Satam on Wednesday tweeted, “I have written a letter to the State Election Commissioner & Chief Election Commissioner regarding illegal submission of ward boundaries draft prepared by @mybmc to State Election Commission. Also, there’s a horrendous plan to remove names of voters from certain pockets across Mumbai from the voter list. #ShivsenaCheatsMumbaikar.”
In the letter to chief election commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra and SEC U P S Madan, a copy of which is with TOI, Satam and corporator Vinod Mishra said there should be a forensic investigation into BMC’s draft.
“A forensic audit of computers, laptops and email IDs of officials from BMC’s election and IT departments should be conducted. BMC officials must be asked to immediately freeze data they submitted to BMC chief Iqbal Chahal. An investigation should be ordered into the role of the civic chief in sharing demographic data with the chief minister,” they said.
BJP also asked SEC not to act on data and draft boundaries submitted by BMC. “SEC must keep a strict watch on preparation of electoral rolls and ensure people are not deprived of their right to exercise their franchise. It is necessary to investigate the allegations against the BMC chief for manipulating data at the behest of his political masters,” the letter stated.
BMC on October 26 submitted a final draft of the rectified electoral ward boundaries of Mumbai’s 227 electoral wards to SEC. BMC’s election department officials said they had completed rectification of boundaries of constituencies and around 20% boundaries have been changed.
A senior official said, “During verification there were 15-20% changes depending on population migration in case it happened in the ward.”
