Mumbai, Feb 05: The BJP and Shiv Sena will finalise their candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Mumbai on Friday, February 6, and the filing of nominations will take place on Saturday, February 7. The election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Mumbai will be held on Wednesday, February 11, in a special meeting of all 227 corporators in the BMC House.
Considering the winning numbers and deliberations between the BJP and the Shinde Sena, the Mayor’s post will go to the BJP, while the Shinde Sena will get the Deputy Mayor’s post. As the Mayor’s post has been reserved for women from the general category, the Shinde Sena is also most likely to nominate a female corporator for the Deputy Mayor’s post.
Top contenders for Deputy Mayor
Following this, two Shiv Sena corporators — Trushna Vishwasrao and Yamini Jadhav — have emerged as the top contenders for the Deputy Mayor’s post. Vishwasrao is a former group leader, while Jadhav is a former MLA. Yamini Jadhav is also a former corporator and the wife of Yashwant Jadhav, who was the last Standing Committee chairman of the BMC.
For the BJP, corporators including Rajashree Shirwadkar, Sheetal Gambhir and Alka Kerkar continue to be top contenders for the Mayor’s post.
Women’s representation in BMC
Notably, there is a 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies, and the tradition of electing more women corporators in the BMC continued this time as well. Out of the total 227 corporators, 130 are women.
Statutory committees distribution
The distribution of the statutory committees’ chairmanships will be finalised in a meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and other BJP leaders, including ministers Ashish Shelar and Ameet Satam.
The BJP is firm on leading the Standing Committee and BEST, while the Shinde Sena is expected to get the Improvement Committee. No top contenders’ names have surfaced so far for statutory committees’ chairmanships or membership. However, as per discussions within political circles, the committees will be led by male corporators, since both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be women.
Group registrations and numbers
Although the BJP and the Shinde Sena contested the BMC elections as part of the Mahayuti alliance, the parties have registered as separate groups with the Konkan Commissioner. While the NCP’s three corporators are expected to register as a single group with the Shinde Sena corporators, the technical administrative procedures had not been completed as of Thursday evening. By the Shinde Sena and NCP registering as a single group, the party candidates would get an additional seat in the committees.
The BJP has the highest number of corporators in Mumbai, with 89, while the Shinde Sena has 29.
Meanwhile, it is said that the Shiv Sena (UBT), which has won 65 seats in the BMC elections, could field a candidate for the Mayor’s post, potentially intensifying the contest. However, the party’s national spokesperson and Colaba MP Arvind Sawant told the FPJ earlier that the party does not plan to file a nomination for the Mayor’s post due to insufficient numbers. The Sena (UBT) is ready to be a strong opposition in the BMC, Sawant said. After being appointed group leader, Kishori Pednekar, who is also the last Mumbai Mayor, is likely to be the Leader of the Opposition in the BMC.
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Gagrani to be presiding authority
For the first time, the Municipal Commissioner will be the Presiding Authority for the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the BMC, following an amendment to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (Conduct of Election to the Office of Mayor and Deputy Mayor) Rules. A government resolution was issued in this regard last month. Accordingly, BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani will be the Presiding Officer for the mayoral elections.
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