Mumbai: Across several wards reserved for women for the BMC polls, familiar political surnames across parties continue to dominate the ballot, with seasoned netas ensuring that power remains within the family by fielding their wives.Take Ward 213 in Nagpada. Former Congress corporator Javed Juneja, who entered the BMC house in 2012 for the first time and successfully defended his seat in the 2017 municipal polls, will sit out this election as the ward was reserved for women. In his place, his wife Naseema will contest from the ward. “As the ward got reserved for a women candidate, we decided to field her. I worked in the ward for a long time and hence am sure she would emerge victorious,” said Juneja.A similar pattern emerged in Ward 72, where BJP fielded Mamta Yadav. Her husband, Pankaj Yadav, won the seat for the first time in the 2017 civic elections. With the ward now reserved for women, he passed the baton to his wife, ensuring the family remains in the electoral fray.Yadav said his wife was actively involved in ward-level work for several years. “She was the ward’s vice-president for many years and led all Women’s Day celebrations and women-centric programmes,” he said. “Most recently, she initiated the linking of beneficiaries to the Laadki Bahin scheme in the ward. She is also a partner in the coaching classes we run and holds a postgraduate degree.” Former BJP corporator Abhijit Samant secured a party ticket for his wife Anjali to contest from Ward 84 — the seat he represented in the 2017 municipal elections. Defending the decision, Samant said his wife was closely associated with his political work from the outset. “She was part of my political journey from day 1 and actively involved in all our social initiatives — whether distributing rain footwear to underprivileged children ahead of the monsoon or organising Diwali celebrations,” he said. “She is a familiar face in the ward. I felt it made more sense for her to contest than for me to start afresh elsewhere,” he added.According to political observers, such candidatures point to how women’s reservation, while expanding representation on paper, often ends up reinforcing entrenched political families — raising questions about whether it truly widens access or merely reshuffles power within these households.
