MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday started a three-day exercise to assess his party’s position in Mumbai, where civic polls are likely to be held next year, one of his close aides said.After the split in the Bal Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena in 2022, the recently concluded assembly elections were seen as a litmus test for Uddhav’s party, which is a constituent of the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).However, the MVA performed disastrously winning only 46, including 20 by Sena (UBT), of the state’s 288 assembly seats.Of the 36 assembly seats in Mumbai, Sena (UBT) contested in 21 constituencies and won 10.Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said, “Uddhav ji is taking stock of the poll preparedness of Sena (UBT) in all 227 municipal wards of Mumbai. The deliberations will go on for three days.”Local body elections, including in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), could be held in March-April 2025 if the Supreme Court gives its verdict over the OBC (Other Backward Class) quota in January.Following the setback in the state polls, the Sena (UBT) is keen to retain the BMC, which is among Asia’s richest civic bodies.The corporation’s last budget outlay stood at nearly Rs 60,000 crore, higher than some states in the country.The five-year term of most municipal corporations, including the BMC, and many other local bodies in the state expired in 2022.In December 2021, the Supreme Court had ruled that reservation for OBCs in local bodies would not be allowed unless the government fulfilled the triple test laid down in the apex court’s 2010 order.It had ruled that until the triple test criteria was fulfilled, OBC seats would be re-notified as general category seats.The triple test required the state government to set up a dedicated commission to gather data on the backwardness of OBCs in every local body, to specify the proportion of reservation in each local body in light of the commission’s recommendations, and ensure that such reservation does not exceed the overall 50 percent quota ceiling.
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