Mumbai Matters: The making of good corporators

if there is one thing that mumbai needs it's a change in the way the municipality serves us. almost everything we see is municipal business, and a lot we cannot see as well, under streets and homes. a change in the way the municipal corporation works demands change in the quality of its corporators who are the people's representatives at civic headquarters. to get better corporators, we need a better set of candidates for election nominated by political parties in the first place. here's one round in the fight that we seem to be losing, citizens. who represents who? the bmc elections have been set for february 10. names of nominees to various seats have begun to appear in the newspapers. too many sitting corporators have been re-nominated, regardless of performance or suspicious improvements in lifestyle. wives of gentlemen unseated by gender reservations are getting tickets. education, previous civic work, all these appear to be irrelevant. what is to be done? now is the time to consider how to turn bad candidates into good corporators, taking the following steps: build a base: we are all members of office or factory groups, professional bodies, ngos, mahila mandals and the like. try to form an integrated body of like-minded people, who might agree to vote in sympathy with each other. the important thing is to create numbers. form a constituency citizen council (ccc): this will comprise one or two representatives of resident associations and other citizen bodies in the electoral ward. the ccc should not number less than some 50 persons, or it will not be taken seriously. the ccc will organize or take the lead in the following activities. choose a consensus candidate: in municipal elections the man (or woman) is more important that the party. party strength is of less importance than in the state assembly or parliament. you and your group should choose the best candidate among those on offer. organizations like agni have published a pariksha: what are the candidate's qualifications and record or knowledge of the constituency's problems? get a commitment: if you have formed a strong group of sufficient numbers and offer the candidate those votes, he/she will be disposed to sign a commitment to deliver on certain promises. procure and present a citizen's manifesto (see below). what about local problems? is the local ward office open and helpful with citizen complaints? procure the citizen manifesto: this agni document demands a clean and healthy city, a city that moves, with reliable public transport especially buses, long term traffic strategies instead of short-term 'fly-over' tactics; a living and livable city, free of air and noise pollution; with well maintained public spaces, 'no hawking' zones, and no constant regularising of illegal structures; a city that works with uninterrupted water and power supply, sanitation and health services; and a city that cares for its slum-dwellers at municipal, not builders', cost, through self efforts and reasonable payment. 'meet your candidate' events: these are vital for a true dialogue between those standing for elections and those who will elect them. cccs should take the lead in organizing such events. maximum voter turnout: join local efforts to gain the maximum turnout in the polling booths on sunday, february 10, voting day. make the ccc your watch dog: before election, the ccc will have been involved, to some extent, in dialogue with the corporator. what remains is to ensure that the 'bad candidate becomes a good corporator' if only because the ccc remains in constant contact on delivery of election promises. nobody should expect miracles or dramatic changes in heart in people used to the bad old ways. but change must start somewhere. now is the time and place.