Although the Bombay High Court, in February, had ordered political parties to refrain from defacing the city with promotional hoardings and posters, its order seems to have fallen on deaf ears. last month, the BMC pulled down as many as 1,237 political banners, posters, flags and hoardings placed across all 24 municipal wards.

With the model code of conduct for the elections having kicked in with the announcement of the poll dates on September 12, the BMC began pulling down political hoardings and posters. Between September 1 and 30, the BMC pulled down a total of 3,638 illegal adverts, including hoardings, banners, posters and wall paintings, of which over 30% were political, while the others had social, religious or commercial material.