The lottery to determine reservations for women in the ensuing civic elections as anticipated has sealed the fate of many aspirants. From the 151 seats up for grabs, as per constitutional arrangements 76 seats, about 50 per cent, were earmarked for women in general, SC/ST and OBC categories. In the process, some bigwigs from past House seem to have got axed as their seats got reserved for women. Unless they make some fine adjustment and shift to adjoining Prabhags, they might need to sit out and wait for better luck next time, a hiatus of 5 years. The draw of lots was held at Suresh Bhat auditorium on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

The excitement was palpable among the hopefuls and their supporters. Unlike last time, as the civic elections are being scheduled after a gap of almost three years, the hall witnessed good turnout of citizens who were keen to know the reservation outcome in their Prabhags, or more precisely, at their seats in particular. Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari along with his deputies, Additional Commissioner duo Vasumana Pant and Vaishnavi B oversaw the draw of lots for reservations. Notably, for Congress, Praful Gudadhe, a formidable candidate, saw his Prabhag 38 getting marked for women and Scheduled Caste candidate. Since guidelines from the Election Commission mentioned that at least 50 per cent of seats in each Prabhag were to be reserved for women candidates, from three, two went to women, one for OBC and other for general category. A seat was already fixed for Scheduled Caste earlier in proforma.

 

So now, it remains to be seen whether Gudadhe shifts to adjoining Prabhag 37 and takes the fight to the ruling party camp. In the ruling camp also, several bigwigs, including Dharmapal Meshram, are likely to miss the bus as his erstwhile seat in Wathoda area got allocated to women candidate. Other names whose fate might have got sealed were Pramod Tabhane and Vandana Bhagat as the reservations in their seats were not in their favour. Now, each of the big parties, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, have to take a decision on their big names who might have got edged out due to adverse draw of lots. As per the guidelines framed by State Election Commission, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) earmarked A seats in the 4-member Prabhags for the Scheduled Caste and finalised their quota of representation. Their quota was fixed at 30 and from that, 15 were allocated to women candidates. Mostly, the A seats among ABCD (the four seats divided in Prabhags) were earmarked as SC. The roaster then moved to Scheduled Tribes and for them, 12 seats had to be kept aside. From this, 50 per cent will go to women candidates. Next, the administration took up draw for OBC and as per the criteria, two seats were first directly allocated. For them, a total of 18 seats had to be reserved and draw was then conducted for 16 seats. For OBC, about 40 seats have been kept aside in the 38 Prabhags. Deputy Commissioner Milind Meshram conducted the proceedings with the help of Election Branch officials, including Assistant Commissioner Shyam Kapse, Assistant Commissioner Narendra Bawankar, Assistant Commissioner Rajkumar Meshram. The draw of lots was telecast live that enabled the aspirants to watch the proceedings in the comfort of their homes and offices.

 

 

Post completion of seat reservation leg in the election programme, NMC officials moved to next stage, that of, publication of the seats break-up on November 17. Anyone can put in suggestion or objection about the distribution of seat reservation with Election Branch or respective Zone office till November 24. NMC administration will take up the objections and in case any correction is needed, then same can be carried out. The final seal of seat reservation will be notified on December 2, said Municipal Commissioner Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari while talking to newspersons at the Suresh Bhat Hall. Dr Chaudhari earlier said, the draw for determining reservation of seats was held transparently and as per the norms laid down by SEC.