50% quota for women in BMC polls challenged

MUMBAI: The state decision to grant 50% reservation for women in the BMC elections has been challenged in the Bombay high court. Kapoorchand Gupta, who has filed the petition, has questioned the implementation of the reservation system in the city, where he has claimed that women are fairly empowered.
In April this year, the Maharashtra state legislature approved a bill for increasing women reservation in urban local bodies from 33% to 50%.The bill was approved unanimously. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
The state government and the BMC, which has been made a respondent in the case, will oppose the petition.Gupta's petition has challenged the implementation of the provision in Mumbai The state UD department is expected to file an affidavit in the court claiming that the move to increase the reservation was initiated to empower women.
Following the implementation of 33% reservation model, participation of women in governance of urban local bodies has increased, a state official said. and added that this has resulted in promoting transparency in administration.
The government will make a case for an immediate dismissal of the petition on the grounds that the state election commission (SEC) was not made a respondent.
The BMC elections are scheduled for February next year. The BMC has 227 elected wards. A reservation of 50% will mean that half of these (114) will be contested only by women. The state is the first in the country to implement 50% reservation for women.