Mumbai, February 07: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mumbai President Amit Satam said in Mumbai on Saturday that his party’s councilor Ritu Tawde has been nominated for the Brihanmumbai Mayoral candidate, while councilor Sanjay Shankar Ghadi from the Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena has been declared the deputy mayoral candidate.
All the councilors from the BJP and Shinde faction were present at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters today. Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Mumbai BJP President Amit Satam, Shinde faction leader Rahul Shewale were also present on the occasion.
In this meeting, Mumbai BJP President Amit Satam announced Ritu Tawde’s name as the mayoral candidate, and Shinde faction leader Rahul Shewale announced Sanjay Ghadi’s name as the deputy mayoral candidate. After this, Ritu Tawde and Sanjay Ghadi filed their nominations. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has not yet finalized its mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates. The election for mayor and deputy mayoral candidates is scheduled for February 11 at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters. If the Shiv Sena (UBT) does not file nominations for mayor and deputy mayoral positions, Ritu Tawde will be elected unopposed as mayor and Sanjay Ghadi as deputy mayor. However, the announcement will be made on February 11.
However, based on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) numerical strength, BJP councilor Ritu Tawde is certain to become mayor. The BJP emerged as the largest party in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation with 89 seats, while its ally, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, won 29 seats, bringing their total to 118, exceeding the majority mark of 114 in the 227-member House.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) emerged as the second-largest party with 65 seats. After this, Congress got 24 seats, while Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM got 8 seats and Raj Thackeray’s MNS got 6 seats. If Ritu Tawde wins the mayoral election, she will be the second BJP mayor of Mumbai and the 78th mayor of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Before this, BJP’s Prabhakar Pai was elected as the first mayor of Mumbai, his tenure was from 1982 to 1983.