With registration of all major political parties following the civic polls that concluded earlier this week, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation administration has started allocating party offices within the civic headquarters, based on the numerical strength of each party in the newly elected House.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, the largest party with 89 seats, on Friday became the first to reclaim its position, retaining the space it held during the 2017-2022 term. Located in the southern end corridor of the old BMC building, the office includes two work areas, a private room, a conference room and a large meeting room. A delegation of newly elected corporators and party workers took possession of the office on Friday and held bidding.
“We are very happy with this as during our previous tenure we operated from here. In our demand letter, our party has requested the administration if we can get this post this year too,” a senior party official told The indian express.
The party offices inside the BMC headquarters were closed after the elected body’s term ended in 2022. However, the BJP office was reopened last year after the State Election Commission set up a temporary facility there for the civic elections held in January.
Shiv Sena factions to share traditional Sena office
Adjacent to the BJP office will be the offices of the two factions of the Shiv Sena. The space, traditionally occupied by the undivided Sena for nearly two decades when it remained the largest party in the civic body, is among the BMC’s largest party offices, with a grand hall, two private meeting rooms and a conference room.
Civic officials said the hall will now be bifurcated and each faction will be allotted a private meeting room and a conference room. The Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction emerged as the second largest party with 65 seats, during the Eknath Shinde The faction has won 29 seats.
“Initially we were told to take over the post which was given to the Congress between 2017 and 2022. However, since the newly bifurcated office belonged to the undivided Shiv Sena, we preferred to keep it with us,” Ameya Ghole, group leader of the Sena’s Shinde faction, told The Indian Express.
Congress retains its old position
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The Indian National Congress, which won 24 seats, will continue to function from its previous office. Initially, the party had been allotted the space now claimed by the Sena factions.
“We had demanded the administration to allocate our old office to us only because all our old documents are still there. Also, we have 16 corporate women, so this space will also be safe for us. As a result, when we came to know that this office was being given to Shinde Sena, we demanded that it be given to us and we mutually agreed to hand it over to them and take possession of it,” Ashraf Azmi, Congress leader in the BMC, told Express.
Azmi said renovation work is going on in the allotted office and the corporators will take possession from next month. The space includes a common room, a private seating area and a conference room.
When contacted, Kishori Pednekar, Sena UBT leader in BMC, said, “We have been notified that space has been allotted for our offices, but I have not visited it yet as ancillary works are underway. We will carry out an inspection visit after the mayor is elected next week.”
AIMIM will get the first independent office
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The All India Majlis and Ittehadul Muslimeen, which has won eight seats and will also have a corporator nominated, will get an independent office in the BMC for the first time.
“We have sent a letter to the civic administration demanding an office dedicated to our daily work. The administration is yet to formally respond to us and it looks like we will take possession of our office probably next week,” AIMIM group leader Vijay Ubale told Express.
An official said a small office for AIMIM is being prepared on the ground floor of the old building. The official added that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which won six seats, will also be allotted a small office.
This will be the first time that the Nationalist Congress Party and the Samajwadi Party will not have exclusive offices in the BMC. The NCP won three seats, the Samajwadi Party two seats and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP one seat.
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“For parties that have less than five seats, a common space is being created with exclusive office spaces, which will act as a corporate block for them,” the official said.