Six contenders are in the fray for five seats as co-opted corporators for the remaining two and half year tenure in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal corporation (MBMC).
Nearly 30 months after the BJP took over reins of the MBMC by claiming majority in the August 2017 civic polls, the process for nominating five co-opted members had finally taken off last month. Out of the 17 people who had taken away the application forms, only six turned up to file their nomination papers on Monday.
The applications will be scrutinized by the municipal commissioner by February 13, following which the names of the shortlisted candidates will be tabled before the general body for final approval. Among the five members to be co-opted, BJP which won 61 out of the 95 seats can nominate three members followed by one each from the Shiv Sena and the Congress.
While it’s a cakewalk for sole contenders-Vikram Pratap Singh ( Shiv Sena) and Adv. S. A. Khan (Congress), four aspirants including Sohan Singh Rajpurohit, retired MBMC officer Ajit Patil, former corporators Anil Bhosale and Bhagwati Sharma have thrown their hat in the ring as BJP aspirants.
The names in the BJP list have the support of former legislator Narendra Mehta, reflecting his dominant status in the local party unit. Although co-opted members do not having voting rights but can participate in debates and raise issues in the civic house. Norms issued by the urban development department in 2012, clearly states that people aspiring for co-opted seats should have two years experience as commissioner, five years as assistant commissioner, five years experience of a social organisation, or should be lawyers, engineers or doctors.
