Election code freezes Maharashtra's big housing lotteries as CIDCO's 16,876-flat draw slips to late July

The computerised draw for CIDCO's mega housing scheme — 16,876 affordable flats across Navi Mumbai — has been pushed to the second half of July, delayed by the Model Code of Conduct in force for the Maharashtra Legislative Council (local-body) elections, along with routine administrative adjustments. The flats span transit-linked nodes, including Kharghar.

A similar wait hangs over the MHADA Mumbai Board lottery, where the authority received about 75,366 applications for just 2,640 flats — an average of nearly 29 applicants per home. Its draft and final eligibility lists were published in mid-June, but here too the draw date is to be set only after the election code lapses.

Public housing lotteries are one of the few channels of genuinely affordable, price-controlled supply in an MMR market where entry-level stock is scarce. The heavy oversubscription for MHADA's Mumbai flats is a reminder of how thin that supply is relative to demand, and CIDCO's Navi Mumbai allotments feed directly into the airport-belt nodes, such as Kharghar, where entry-level demand is deepest.

The delays are procedural rather than substantive — the schemes are proceeding, only on an election-adjusted calendar. Applicants are being advised to watch the official CIDCO and MHADA portals for the rescheduled draw dates.