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MUMBAI: BMC’s reservation lottery for 227 electoral wards conducted Tuesday may have reshuffled key political cards in the city as several known political faces ended up losing their previously-held seats to one of kind of reservation or other, some others realised they may be able to sneak in from a neighouring ward nonetheless, and some others breathed a sigh of relief that they may have got through by a hair’s—or a chit’s—breadth As students from a municipal school in Khar were called in by BMC officials to pick chits, prominent names such as Congressman-turned-BJP worker Ravi Raja (Sion), Congress’ Asif Zakaria (Bandra), BJP’s Neil Somaiya (Mulund), Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Tejaswee Ghosalkar (Dahisar), and BJP’s Harshita Narwekar found themselves out of the reckoning on ‘home turf’. There is 50% reservation for women in BMC, so 114 seats were earmarked for female candidates. The lottery determined reservation of seats for categories including OBCs, SCs, STs, and general. While some netas felt they may be able to nominate a family member in their place, a few were lucky as their wards have stayed in the same category despite the fresh lottery process this time round. BJP’s Vinod Mishra’s ward remains in the open category for him, as does that of former mayor Kishori Pednekar, whose seat is again reserved for women, allowing her to re-contest. BJP’s Rohan Rathod and Shiv Sena’s Amey Ghole have also retained their open category wards. The draw, held at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir in Bandra (W), saw a hall packed with anxious party workers, while those unable to enter watched proceedings live on a big screen outside. Students from a Khar municipal school were invited on stage to pick chits from a transparent drum that civic officials kept rotating. At the start of the session, municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said the process was being conducted in line with directives of State Election Commission. Analyst Hitesh Jain said the lottery system shuffles seats like “pawns on a chessboard”. “Instead of empowering individuals, it hampers their growth, and discourages them from working for their constituents since they may not even be eligible for re-election.
