Overview
- With BMC elections set for January 15, new ward profiles spotlight governance gaps across F/North, H East and H West alongside shifting political equations.
- F/North comprises 10 electoral wards with eight reserved for women, the highest such concentration citywide, across a heterogeneous electorate of roughly 3.89 lakh spanning heritage precincts and dense slum pockets.
- Reservation outcomes are reshaping tickets as former opposition leader Ravi Raja, who moved from Congress to the BJP, cannot contest in his old F/North turf, and Congress leader Asif Zakaria is sidelined by a women-only seat in H West.
- H East, where nearly 60% of areas are slum pockets, continues to face water shortages, sewage overflows and garbage backlogs, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena retains an edge after sweeping most seats in 2017 and winning the recent Assembly race.
- H West residents report daily gridlock, commercialization of residential lanes and degraded footpaths, and local groups say they want corporators back to restore accountability, with some warning of NOTA if credible candidates are not fielded.