Vishwanath Mahadeshwar becomes 76th city mayor

Mumbai: The mayoral election in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) proved a cakewalk for the Shiv Sena as its candidate Vishwanath Mahadeshwar won with a huge margin of 140 votes defeating Congress’ Vitthal Lokre.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had decided to support Mr Mahadeshwar, but, amidst the borrowed bonhomie, there were signs of unsavoury things to come as both parties indulged in heated sloganeering against each other during the elections.

For the record, Mr Mahadeshwar became the 76th mayor of the city by securing 171 votes. He was supported by Sena (84) and its four Independent supporter corporators, BJP (82) and one Akhil Bhartiya Sena corporator. However, one Independent, Mumtaj Rehbar Khan, who had announced her support to the BJP, did not vote for Sena. The Nationalist Congress Party (9), SP (6) and one Independent remained neutral, whereas the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (7) and one All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) member abstained from the voting. Another AIMIM member was absent.

In the deputy mayor’s election, Sena’s Hemangi Worlikar defeated Congress’ Winnie D’Souza by 166-31 votes, as five votes were declared invalid.

“We did not want instability in running the biggest municipal corporation in the country. Hence the BJP decided to vote for Sena candidates,” said party group leader Manoj Kotak.

With more than 70 per cent corporators belonging to Sena-BJP, the BMC House wore a saffron look as both party corporators were clad with phetas and shelas of that colour. But their slogan war marred the election process, clearly indicating all is not well within the two parties. In fact, the announcements of elected mayor and deputy mayor were overshadowed among the slogans of “Modi… Modi” by BJP corporators and ‘Ekach Saheb… Balasaheb” by Sena members. BJP corporators’ slogans reached its crescendo when Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, along with his wife Rashmi and son Aditya, came to the BMC House to congratulate Mr Mahadeshwar and Ms Worlikar on their election.

With the BJP already announcing that it would support Sena, the mayoral election had already lost its sheen. However, Congress failed to garner support of other opposition parties. “Congress has failed to prove its secular credentials. Hence we decided to stay neutral in the mayor poll,” said Samajwadi Party (SP) group leader Rais Shaikh.

Buoyed by the success, Sena used the occasion to assert its dominance over the BMC. A huge dias with the Shivaji Maharaj statue was erected near BMC headquarters where revelry went on throughout the day with songs and dances. “It’s after a long time our party has got the posts of both mayor and deputy mayor in the BMC. So the celebrations were quite natural,” said Sena corporator Sheetal Mhatre.