Hitesh Makwana is new Gandhinagar mayor

GANDHINAGAR: At the first general board meeting of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Thursday, BJP councillor Hitesh Makwana was elected unopposed as the new mayor of the state capital Gandhinagar.
This time, the post of Gandhinagar’s mayor for the first term of two-and-a-half-years has been reserved for a corporator from the scheduled caste (SC) category.
The fifth mayor of the capital city, Makwana will remain on the post for two and a half years, following which a woman will be elected as the mayor for the remaining term as per laid down guidelines.
“I thank the BJP and its leadership for giving me this responsibility. Gandhinagar city was developed extensively by our predecessors. Now, we will extend this development to 18 villages and Pethapur municipality, which have been newly added to the GMC,” Makwana told reporters.
The new Gandhinagar mayor is son of former BJP MLA Punambhai Makwana and husband of actress Roma Manek. During the meeting, BJP corporator Premalsinh Gol was elected as the new deputy mayor of Gandhinagar, while Jaswant Patel became the chairman of the standing committee. In the recently held polls to the GMC, the ruling BJP retained power by winning 41 of total 44 seats of 10 wards, decimating both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party by huge margins. While the Congress won two seats, AAP won just one seat.
Since the inception of the GMC in 2010, this is the first time that the BJP has won a clear-cut victory in the GMC election. In the first election held in 2011, the Congress had won a majority, winning 18 seats, while the BJP won 15. However, three Congress councillors defected to the BJP, giving it a majority in the GMC.
In the second election in 2016, BJP and the Congress were tied at 16 seats apiece. A Congress councillor Pravin Patel defected to the BJP, and was rewarded with the post of mayor.