Ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the BJP is focusing on first-time voters. The party has announced that if voted to power, it will select 50 Gen-Z individuals (roughly those born between 1997 and 2012) from 24 wards as interns to monitor the civic system and suggest ways to improve governance.
Last year, on the day of the Assembly results, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, now the chief minister of Maharashtra, made the party’s intention of securing 150 of 227 BMC seats clear. As part of its strategy to accomplish ‘Mission 150’, Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam interacted with young voters at YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Monday.
During his interaction, Satam announced to select 50 candidates for monitoring and improving BMC services and amenities. “Selected interns will work as a third eye as far as governance is concerned. Also, based on their observations, these youths will suggest improvement in the functioning of the civic administration,” the Mumbai BJP president added.
The much-awaited elections to the BMC and 28 other municipal corporations will take place within the next four months. The Supreme Court has given a final deadline of January 31, 2026, for organising these polls.
In light of this, the BJP has already started working towards issues that affect Mumbaikars. A couple of weeks ago, the party took up the issues of buildings that lack occupancy certificates and the digging of roads without consulting local public representatives and citizens, and objected to leasing out open spaces.
The last civic election was conducted in February 2017, and the five-year tenure of the elected municipal body came to an end in 2022. In 2017, the undivided Shiv Sena had 84 seats in the BMC, just two more than the BJP’s tally. After 2022, more than half of Uddhav Thackeray’s corporators joined the faction of his rival Eknath Shinde.
For 25 years, Shiv Sena and BJP had been ruling the BMC. However, in 2017, the saffron alliance came to an end, and both parties contested separately. Now, the BJP is aiming to meet its long-term goal of wielding power single-handedly in Mumbai’s civic body. As part of this strategy, besides focusing on its traditional vote base, the party is now aiming to woo first-time voters, which can turn the tables on Shiv Sena and help the BJP party achieve its goal.
Satam, during his interaction, mentioned that immediately after the BMC elections are done, an internship programme would commence for Gen-Z students interested in public policy. According to the city BJP president, two interns will be placed in each of Mumbai’s 24 wards, and two more will work at the BMC headquarters.
“Fifty young people who have studied public policy and governance will get a chance to understand how the BMC functions, give suggestions for improvement, and write research papers to help make city planning and civic work better,” Satam added. He further mentioned that the selection process would be carried out with criteria to ensure that the most deserving candidates are chosen to contribute to civic governance.
Group to study, aim to reduce flooding
On Monday, Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam announced that a special study group of experts from Indian Institutes of Technology and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute would take advice from former BMC commissioners and ex-chief engineers of the stormwater drains department. “The study group will study Mumbai’s landscape and rainfall patterns, compare them with other cities that get similar rainfall, and prepare a plan to reduce flooding in the city,” Satam added.
