Dinesh Kamath's news 'Special features of forthcoming NMMC elections' that was published in Newsband

Special features of forthcoming NMMC elections

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: With Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) election round the corner, the aspiring candidates who had to pay property tax were in a hurry to pay the tax before the elections. A long queue was witnessed at the place where property tax had to be paid. It was compulsory for these candidates to pay the tax if they had to be allowed to contest elections. 

The property tax department managed to collect crores of rupees from these aspiring candidates. The NMMC elections might make it possible for the department to achieve its annual target. NMMC had issued notices to defaulters and threatened punitive action if the property tax was not paid before the due date. This move made by NMMC has paid dividends since a huge number of people immediately queued up at the property tax department to pay their pending dues.

Another special aspect of NMMC elections this time was that unlike in the past preference was given to candidates who were educationally qualified rather than those with criminal records. It was found that out of the 111 wards, more than half this number was classified as urban areas. Rest was either rural regions or slum areas. That was the reason why the political parties, especially Bharatiya Janata Party, focused on having educated candidates in the fray to appease the urban voters. The candidates were interviewed in-depth to test their knowledge about civic administration and major problems that the city faced.

Another interesting aspect of the forthcoming NMMC election is that the civic body has sanctioned more than 5 crores to conduct the elections in the city. Such a big amount was never spent by NMMC during the elections that were held in the past. NMMC found the need to spend a huge amount for polling booths, counting centres, paying the staff etc. Considering the rise in prices of every item, even the candidates contesting the elections were allowed to spend Rs 4 lakhs by Election Commission. Again this is the highest allowed to be spent by candidates so far.

Now it is left to be seen as to how many out of more than 8 lakhs voters will turn out to vote. This is the month when weddings take place in big number, school vacation begins and many residents plan to go out of city. So the political pundits fear that all these factors may lead to low voter turnout. But NMMC authorities are trying their best to ensure huge voter turnout by appealing to the city residents to cast their valuable votes in big number so that right candidates get elected and given powers to shape the destiny of the city.