The first ever election to choose hawkers representative in the Town Vending Committee elections (TVC) was going on smoothly on Thursday across 67 voting booths in the Mumbai, the officials said.
In the TVC polls around 32,415 licensed hawkers will cast their vote till 5 pm on Thursday, they said, adding that the the results will be declared only after Supreme Court`s permission.
The TVC polls are important as it is responsible for the allotment of licenses to hawkers, pitches and overall regulation in the city, the officials said.
The structure of TVC consists of one central town vending committee and seven zonal committees. Each committee comprises 20 members, with 12 being nominated and eight being representatives of hawkers. These hawker representatives will be elected by the hawkers through the election process.
Each voters has to vote for 16 members, eight from the zonal committee and eight for the central committee. But Out of total 64 seats, there is no candidate for total 10 seats including six of scheduled tribe, three OBC and one minority.
Long queues for hawkers` elections at D.N. Nagar School in Andheri West #Andheri #MumbaiNews #Election2024 #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/Wni7UEzSfx
— Mid Day (@mid_day) August 29, 2024
There is only one nomination for each of the 17 seats, so these 17 candidates elected unopposed.
” Even then voters has to select around 13 to 15 names among more than 65 candidates and that is taking time to vote,” said an official appointed to take elections.
A total 237 candidates are in the ring. Out of it, 190 are males and 47 are females.
The election result were scheduled to be declared on the same day after the counting of votes but in a petition filed by Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers Union that the election in Supreme Court on Wednesday stated that the scheduled elections shall be held on August 29, however the result of the election shall not be declared after the order of the the apex court.
Zone wise voters numbers
7,686 – zone 1
5,303 – zone 2
4,668 – zone 3
7,501 – zone 4
2,160 – zone 5
3,033 – zone 6
2,064 – zone 7
……………….
Total: 32 415
