Mumbai and Pune to have women mayors from the open category

Amid the suspense over the Mumbai mayor, Sena UBT has called the lottery process ‘fixed.’

Amid the ongoing suspense over the mayoral post in the 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena UBT has called the lottery process ‘fixed.’ Reports say that apart from Mumbai, PCMC (PimpriChinchwad), Pune, Bhiwandi, and Dhule will have women mayors from the open category.

The draw for the mayoral post in Maharashtra began on Thursday.

As per the rotational system, Mumbai will get an open-category woman mayor, while Thane and Bhiwandi-Nizampur are expected to have mayor from the SC category. However, Shiv Sena (UBT) raised objections to the process and alleged that the reservation exercise was rigged to benefit the ruling alliance. Former mayor KishoriPednekar of Sena (UBT) said, “The government changed the rules of reservation for the ST category. The requirement of a minimum number of members from the category was altered at the last minute.” She said that Mumbai was not put in the ST category deliberately, as only Sena -UBT had two councillors from the category in the city. As per the draw, mayoral posts in Ichalkaranji, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Akola, Panvel and Ulhasnagar have been reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Of these, Chandrapur, Ichalkaranji, Akola and Jalgaon will have women mayors from the OBC category.

Women mayors for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Apart from Mumbai, PCMC (PimpriChinchwad), Pune, Bhiwandi, and Dhule will have women mayors from the open category. Navi Mumbai, Malegaon, Nanded and Mira Bhayandar will also have women mayors from the open category. MadhuriMisal, minister of state for the Urban Development Department, who chaired the draw process, responding to allegations of fraud, said the government had taken note of the objections. However, she dismissed Sena (UBT)’s claims as lacking substance. She added that the party wanted the reservation to be convenient for them and that the process was followed as per the rules.

The law stipulates that the mayor’s post must be reserved by rotation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Women candidates. It is only after this lottery is conducted that the statutory procedure for the mayoral election can begin.