Supreme Court Dismisses BJP Members' Petition Challenging Increase Of Seats In Mumbai Corporation

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the Maharashtra Ordinance which increased the electoral seats in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai from 227 to 236.

A bench comprising the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli dismissed the petition filed by members of the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) Abhijit Samant and Rajeshree Shirwadkar. The special leave petition was filed against a Bombay High Court judgment which rejected their challenge.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the seats cannot be increased without conducting a census. He pointed out that the last census was held in 2011. The bench observed that the population has increased over the past ten years. Rohatgi submitted that a census was necessary to show the exact number of seats which should be increased to reflect the proportionate increase in population.

The bench expressed that it was not inclined to interfere with the High Court judgment.

It was in December last year that the Maharashtra Government issued the Ordinance to increase the seats in the Mumbai civic body, which is going to polls in 2022. The previous seat position was based on 2001 census.

 Case Title : Abhijeet Ganpat Sawant and another vs State of Maharashtra |SLP(C) No. 1100/2022