India, Dec. 16 -- As Mumbai gears up for long-delayed civic elections after an eight-year gap, activists and resident associations have said that key promises made ahead of the 2017 polls, such as pothole-free roads, 24/7 water supply, and improved tree cover, have failed to materialise.

The undivided Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition won the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections and jointly governed India's richest civic body until 2022, when an administrator took charge. The Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party with 84 corporators and held the mayor's post, while the BJP had 82 corporators.

Eight years later, civic activist Dolphy D'Souza said that election manifestos are akin to marketing gim...