Mumbaikars urged to step out of homes to cast votes

Mumbai: Mumbaikaras are being urged to get out of their homes on Thursday for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections and cast their vote that can change the face of this chaotic city.

Rather than constantly complain about the dilapidated conditions of Mumbai's civic infrastructure, people should exercise their franchise to have a say in improving the city's roads, water supply, drainage system or open spaces.

This is what the Maharashtra Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan, citizen groups, political leaders and the media are exhorting the public to do.

The reasons for the low turnout — less than 50 per cent in the last four elections and 46 per cent in 2007 — has been simply because of voters' apathy, cynicism or plain laziness.

This time, several citizen's groups, particularly Mumbai 227 — a platform of citizen candidates, have been active in not only creating awareness but also fielding eligible individual candidates.

Seeking control

The main battle is between the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine in the BMC and the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which have come together to wrest BMC's control.

There are several independent candidates, many of them rebels denied tickets, who have joined the 2,300 candidates vying for one of the 227 seats in the BMC.

The annual budget of the BMC exceeds that of many small Indian states and cities — Rs210 billion (Dh15.6 billion) for 2011-2012, compared to Bengaluru's Rs93.1 billion, Delhi's Rs75 billion, Kolkata's Rs32.2 billion and Chennai's Rs19.4 billion.