Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar elected Mumbai Mayor with BJP support

Shiv Sena’s candidate for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor elections, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, on Wednesday emerged victorious and was elected the new Mayor of Mumbai.

The election was conducted by the current Mayor Snehal Ambekar.

Mahadeshwar’s victory was confirmed after a show of hands, during which BJP corporators also supported his election.

During the formal process, 171 corporators appeared before the camera and voted for him. 218 corporators, out of the total 227, cast their votes.

After BJP withdrew their nomination, Mahadeshwar was competing with Congress’ Vitthal Lokare for the Mayor’s post. Sena had already anticipated his victory after BJP announced their decision to back their nomination last week.

Mahadeshwar, a three-time Councillor from Santacruz, has meanwhile been accused by Congress candidate Dharmesh Vyas of obtaining salary from government college and purchasing a flat reserved for BMC employees.

Vyas had lost to Mahadeshwar by a margin of 34 votes. His petition has been adjourned by the local court till April 6.

Sena’s nominee for post of Deputy Mayor, Hemangi Worlikar, also emerged victorious by beating Congress candidate Vinni D’souza

Amid heavy police bandobast, hundreds of Sena workers were seen celebrating outside the BMC office even as the election process was underway.

Traffic can wait, celebrations can’t! #Shivsena supporters outside #BMC headquarters. Mahadeshwar becomes the new #Mumbaimayor #mumbai pic.twitter.com/kd2SNbfIgu

— Steffy Thevar (@StopForSteffy) March 8, 2017

The process was held in the presence of BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, Sena MP and party secretary Anil Desai and Sena MLA Anil Parab.

Nine NCP corporators and six corporators from Samajwadi Party abstained from casting vote, while seven MNS corporators were not even in attendance.

The elections to the 227-member BMC, which were conducted on February 21 and the results were declared two days later, threw up a hung verdict, with Sena winning 84 seats and the BJP 82.

While both parties managed to include more corporators into their fold since then, they fell short of the magical figure of 114 seats, which is required to win a clear majority and elect a Mayor.

Ahead of the elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena split in BMC, which they had been ruling together for the last over two decades.

However, things took an unexpected turn last week when Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced his decision to support Sena in the BMC, while refusing to take up any post like Deputy Mayor, Opposition Leader, Committee Chairman etc.

Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar elected BMC Mayor with 171 votes. 218/227 participated in voting. pic.twitter.com/c5zInT8ltW

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 8, 2017