Put together, citizen candidates’ platforms are supporting more than 80 candidates for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for February 16. Apart from these, many are contesting as Independents.

Benaifer Daruwala (25), who is contesting from Mumbai 227, said a local volunteer with a prominent political party had visited her house about 10 days ago to ask her to step back. “He came to my husband, saying I should accept some money and not contest. But we said I will stand my ground and contest the elections,” Daruwala claimed. She is contesting from ward 71, which is the Gundavali Gaothan area in Andheri (East).

Daruwala said two months ago when parties had already started preparing for the elections, she had come across a similar problem when she and her friends were trying to form an Advanced Locality Management (ALM).

“In preparation for the ALM, the youngsters of our area were going door-to-door and noting down civic problems when one of my friends received a phone call from a local politician of a major party asking us to stop and offered her a hefty sum.”

Same was the case with Soma Manjhnani, who is contesting as an Independent from ward 95, in the National College area in Bandra. “A few days ago, volunteers from one of the major political parties came to my house and told me not to contest,” Manjhnani said.

Another candidate from the Mumbai 227 platform, Prashant Tripathi, filed a case with the Dadar police station on January 26 after receiving an anonymous threat. “I got a message on my cellphone that I should not file my application or I will be in for trouble,” he said. “Till date, nothing has been done about the complaint.” Tripathi is contesting from ward 187, the TV Centre area in Worli.