The recently scheduled MCD elections in March were postponed by the SEC (State Election Commission) to April 2022, prompting outrage from the opposition, who claimed it was a politically motivated move rather than one that would benefit the people.
In fact, there have been discussions about merging all three MCDs into one and making other changes. However, the opposition, particularly the AAP (Aam Admi Party), has modified its strategy and is now attempting to reverse the unification’s effect and exploit it to its advantage.
BJP the current power holder in MCD can come up with a bill in Lok Sabha in this budget session says sources and can be used to make more amendments in these MCDs.
The major idea behind this unification is said to be the financial crisis that actually these MCDs are facing for a very long time now as the budget deficit for all three MCDs is increasing, but there is also a political significance of this move.
Significance of Unification of these MCDs
In the current situation, the MCD has three branches: North, West, and South. This split was made in 2012 by then-CM Sheela Dixit in the name of decentralisation of power in the MCD.
The main idea of this split was to set the boundaries of the MCD to benefit the Congress party, which was in power at the time, but it backfired because the BJP has been in power for the last 10 years because of this split.
But a senior BJP leader said that he knew what the steps were for this unification and how this unification would work out in real life.
There are already three boundaries, so the first step is to remove them. This is the easiest one because it doesn’t change anything else.
Second, the BJP talks about the jobs of people who work in MCDs. They say that the jobs of the people who work at the ground level or who aren’t A-level officers won’t be affected, but the people who work at the top level will be, because there will only be one person in charge of each department instead of three.
So, the 160,000 people who work in MCDs will be directly impacted by the move. The third step is to increase the term of Mayors from 1 year to 2.5 years.
Though BJP’s says reforms are for sole purpose of change and change towards right direction as the budget deficit of three branches is increasing day by day even in south branch which was mostly in profit a couple of years back.
But it also holds political significance where BJP is trying to fight anti-incumbency by giving people way of hope that give us 5 more years and we will carry out more reforms and addressing to demands of angry employees who most of the time protest for lack of funds which would be taken care by this unification according to BJP.
How AAP is Looking to Get Benefitted
Because AAP is not in power in MCD, it is looking forward to assuming power and reversing the unity impact.Durgesh Pathak, AAP’s MCD in-charge, stated and also explained the party’s stance on the issue.
He stated that the public is unconcerned about these unifications; they don’t care whether there is one MCD or three; they care about health and education, which the BJP has failed to provide, but which AAP will provide if elected.
Thus, both parties are attempting to leverage the unification card, but only time will tell whether party truly fits into the popular narrative.
Published By : Revathy G Sanal
Edited By : Subbuthai Padma
