Shiv Sena gets post of Mayor & Deputy Mayor in BMC after BJP exits race

The Shiv Sena has bagged the prestigious posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of India's richest and biggest civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as the BJP quit the race. Shiv Sena's Kishori Pednekar and Suhas Wadkar on Monday filed their nominations for Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts respectively. As BJP, Congress and NCP have not put up candidates, Kishori K. Pednekar (56), will be the new Mayor and Suhas C. Wadkar will be the new Deputy Mayor of the country's commercial capital.

The official declaration is expected to be made on November 22

Present at the nominations filing were outgoing Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Deputy Mayor Hemangi Worlikar, both from the Shiv Sena. According to an official, the official declaration is expected to be made on November 22, the date of the election for the BMC and other cities in the state for the two posts. The unchallenged elections became possible after the BJP - which is targeting the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister - opted out of the race, hoping to mollify its former ally Shiv Sena.

"We are in sufficient strength in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) but we don't have the required numbers. We will not enter into an illegitimate alliance with opposing ideologies. But, in 2022, we shall win the Mumbai Mayor post on our strength and numbers," former BJP minister Ashish Shelar said.

In 2017, the former allies BJP-Sena, had bitterly fought the civic elections separately but later the BJP had supported the Sena nominee for Mayor's post. The BMC has a total strength of 227 municipal corporators who elect a Mayor, as per a lottery system by the state government.

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Mahayuti fallout

While the BJP-Shiv Sena have not separated at the civic level inspite of falling out at the state-level, the saffron allies are eyeing to form the next government separately in Maharashtra, which is currently under President's rule. The Sena-NCP-Congress is still in talks to finalise the Common minimum programme to form an alliance and the BJP has vowed that it will form the next government. The Mahayuti alliance which swept Maharashtra on October 24, winning a combined tally of 161 (BJP- 105, Sena -56), fell out with the  Sena insisting an equal sharing of CM post for 2.5 years and portfolios, while BJP refused to these demands.

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