Ahead of polls,testing times for MNS candidates

Harshal Desphande,secretary of MNS chief Raj Thackeray,said the question paper was made by party ideologues from the Maharashtra Navnirman Social Academy in Pune. “In the 2007 elections,the party was still young,so we could not conduct the tests at that time. But this time,Raj saab is clear about getting able candidates for all 227 wards,” he said.

MNS MLA from Vikhroli,Mangesh Sangle said while a majority of those who took the exam were MNS party workers,the rest were those who have not been associated with the party till now.

The 100-marks question paper for Mumbai candidates had 52 questions,of which 30 were BMC-related. Candidates also had to answer a variety of questions on the city’s history and current affairs,such as: “In which year was the name ‘Bombay’ changed to Mumbai?”,“Whose birthday is celebrated as the Marathi Language Day?”,“What is the cut-off date for rehabilitating slum dwellers?”,“Who is considered the architect of modern Mumbai?”and “Who was the first chief minister of Maharashtra?”.

Interestingly,there were only two questions regarding the party – when was the MNS established and a subjective question about the objectives of the party as understood by the candidate.

Questions on the BMC included easy ones like “How many corporators and administrative wards does the BMC have?”,“Which committee has the power to exercise control on the finance of the BMC administration?” and “Which tax does the BMC levy on citizens?” to tricky ones such as “Which section of the BMC Act enlists its non-discretionary duties?”,“What are the eligibility criteria for corporator elections?” and “What is the maximum amount that a ward committee can approve for any work?”.

Candidates shortlisted after the evaluation of the written paper will be interviewed by the party chief Raj Thackeray. Shrinath Bhonsale,a party worker from Kanjurmarg,said he had difficulty matching the names of leading Marathi newspapers with senior journalists working with each of them. “But I enjoyed solving the paper.”