Shiv Sena Man Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Becomes Mumbai's New Mayor

Mumbai: Putting all speculations to rest of an imminent split in the Maharashtra government, Shiv Sena's Vishwanath Mahadeshwar was elected as the Mayor of the Bombay Municipal Corporation by the newly elected corporators of the ruling BJP-Sena combine.

Mahadeshwar won 171 votes out of the 218 who participated in the process.

Mahadeshwar became the strongest contender for the post after BJP withdrew from the mayoral race of the BMC which has 227 corporators.

The incumbent Mayor presided over the proceedings after which the new Mayor and the Deputy Mayor were elected.

However, Mahadeshwar is facing legal trouble after a case has been filed in the court challenging his election.

Local leader of the Congress Dharmesh Vyas, who filed a petition, said, "As a principal of a government-aided school, he had suppressed the information that he was drawing

a salary from government grants which makes him ineligible even to become a corporator."

The matter would be heard on April 6.

Another independent candidate from the same ward, Mahendra Pawar too has filed a case alleging that a mayoral candidate has purchased his current flat by "flouting the

rules".

The hearing in the matter will take place on March 23.

Calls and message sent to Mahadeshwar by news agency PTI did not elicit any response.

However, his close associate said that the petitioners are the ones who have lost elections and are levelling such "baseless" allegations after being "politically motivated".

Earlier, Shiv Sena Corporator Meenakshi Shinde was on Monday elected as Thane Mayor unopposed while Ramakant Madvi, also of the Sena, was elected Deputy

Mayor without any contest.

Thane Collector Mahendra Kalyankar presided over the election process.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which has ruled the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for the last 25 years, retained its hold on the civic body in the last month's elections. It secured a majority winning 67 of the total 131 seats.

Sena has been demanding Mayor's post by virtue of its numerical strength at 84 in BMC, just two more than BJP.

Sena had also claimed support of at least four Independent corporators.

However, given the hung verdict, both the Sena and the BJP could not reach the magic figure of 114 seats needed to rule the 227-member civic body on their respective strength.

The CM's announcement of the BJP virtually relinquishing prominent civic posts paved the way for Sena to install its Mayor in the country's richest civic body.

(With inputs from PTI)