Pune:
While elections to the mayors posts in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic bodies were no-contests, the much-awaited Nashik civic body mayoral election turned out to be an anti-climax as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coasted to victory being the dominant party.
The Nashik mayoral contest was being touted an unpredictable one as the BJP, despite having a comfortable majority of 65 of the 122 seats, was being opposed by its estranged ally, the Shiv Sena, which was intriguing with the NCP to keep the BJP away from the mayor’s post.
A split in the BJP was being threatened by ex- BJP MLA Balasaheb Sanap, as 10-15 BJP corporators believed to be Sanap’s loyalists were expected to vote against their party. In the event, the BJP’s Satish Kulkarni easily won the mayoral poll despite these machinations to be elected unopposed.
Kulkarni was even supported by five corporators of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), taking the BJP’s tally to 70. The BJP received the MNS support despite Thackeray bitter campaign against the former party during the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections. Likewise, veteran BJP leader Bhikubai Bagul was elected unopposed to the deputy mayor’s post in the Nashik Municipal Corporation.
The run-up to the mayoral election in the NMC witnessed high drama, with the BJP high command chaperoning their corporators to a resort in Sindhudurg in a bid to shelter them from the Sena’s intrigues and preclude a split in their ranks. While as many as six candidates from the BJP had filed their nominations for the mayoral poll, the party did not announce its candidate until today morning.
After having swept the cash-rich Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations in 2017 to establish their total ascendancy, the BJP’s retention of the mayoral post in these two civic bodies was but inevitable. Murlidhar Mohol of the BJP was elected the new Pune mayor, winning 99 of the 162 votes in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) while the party’s Mai Dhore became the new PCMC mayor, securing 81 votes in the 128-seat civic body.
However, the PMC mayoral contest did see the Sena, Congress and the NCP joining hands in accordance to the new political alignment in State politics. Despite the BJP’s (Mohol’s) win a foregone conclusion, the Congress’ Prakash Kadam managed to garner 60 votes.
The BJP also retained the mayors post in the Chandrapur and Amravati civic bodies, with its candidates Rakhi Kanchalwar and Chetan Gawande winning 42 of the 66 votes and 49 of 87 votes to be elected the new mayors of Chandrapur and Amravati cities respectively. A similarly straight contest ensued in the mayoral election to the Akola civic body, where the BJP’s Archana Masne was elected the new mayor, winning 48 of the possible 80 votes.
The BJP, however, met with a setback in the mayoral election to the Latur civic body where it earlier held a majority, albeit a slender one. In the mayoral contest to the 70-seat Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC), the Congress’ Vikram Gojamgunde managed to wrest the mayoral post from Shailesh Gojamgunde, the BJP’s candidate. Two BJP rebel corporators voted for the Congress candidate, taking the latter party’s tally to 35 in the 70-seat LMC. The BJP candidate secured 33 votes.
The Congress managed to retain the mayor’s post in the Parbhani Municipal Corporation (PMC) with its candidate Anita Sonkamble winning 37 of the 65 seats, trouncing her nearest rival, the BJP’s Mangala Mudgalkar, who only managed to get eight votes.
