Navi Mumbai: NCP retains mayor post

NCP’s Jaywant Sutar is the new Mayor; Mandakini Mhatre of Congress elected Deputy Mayor. Narendra Vaskar

In Navi Mumbai, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has retained the hold over the civic body by winning the post of mayor, defeating the Shiv Sena candidate. NCP’s Jaywant Sutar won the election by defeating Sena’s Somnath Waskar. Sutar got 67 votes while Waskar polled 38.

For the post of deputy mayor, Congress’s Mandakini Mhatre defeated Sena’s Dwarakanath Bhoir. Mhatre got 64 votes against Bhoir’s 38. Congress corporator Vaijayanti Bhagat, who filed nomination against party’s official candidate, polled only three votes.

BJP corporators boycotted the mayor and deputy mayor polls, said an official. Sena, the opposition party in the civic body, had been preparing for the last two months to bag the mayor’s post, but it did not field opposition leader Vijay Chaugale for the polls. Chaugale was in touch with more than 10 NCP and Congress corporators apart from a section of BJP corporators. After the Sena distributed a booklet of BJP scams, the BJP leaders got upset and didn’t support the Sena.

In the 111-member civic body, the NCP has 52 corporators while the Sena has 38. The Congress has 10, the BJP has six and there are five Independents. The NCP and the Congress have an alliance in the civic body.