In a major setback for the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Vikas Mhatre was elected as the chairman of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) standing committee on Friday, with support from the Congress and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
Mhatre got eight votes in total, including one from the MNS and one from the Congress, while his opponent, Sena’s Ganesh Kot, received seven votes. One Sena member, Waman Mhatre, was absent during the election.
“I am not at all surprised with the result and I was sure that the win would be ours. Now it’s time to work for the development of Kalyan-Dombivli. All the major works will be taken up on priority by the committee and decisions will be taken without delays,” said Mhatre.
Earlier, Sena’s Dipesh Mhatre was the standing committee chairman of KDMC.
There are 16 members in the KDMC standing committee, of which eight are from the Sena, six from the BJP, one from the MNS and one from the Congress.
Ahead of the standing committee elections, Sena had claimed that it will win the post with support from the MNS and Congress, considering the latter is in an alliance with the former in the state government. However, with one Sena member remaining absent and two votes from the MNS and the Congress going to the BJP, the Sena lost the post. “We had thought that even if Mhatre remained absent, two votes from the Congress and MNS would help us win with nine votes. However, their [Congress and MNS] support to the BJP has come as a major shock for us,” said a Sena leader from KDMC, who did not wish to be named. KDMC officials said that Waman Mhatre will face action from the party for remaining absent in the election.
{{/usCountry}}Ahead of the standing committee elections, Sena had claimed that it will win the post with support from the MNS and Congress, considering the latter is in an alliance with the former in the state government. However, with one Sena member remaining absent and two votes from the MNS and the Congress going to the BJP, the Sena lost the post. “We had thought that even if Mhatre remained absent, two votes from the Congress and MNS would help us win with nine votes. However, their [Congress and MNS] support to the BJP has come as a major shock for us,” said a Sena leader from KDMC, who did not wish to be named. KDMC officials said that Waman Mhatre will face action from the party for remaining absent in the election.
{{/usCountry}}In the 2015 civic polls, the Sena-BJP alliance won the largest number of votes. The Sena won 52 seats and the BJP got 42 seats in the 122-member house. The BJP claimed that as per the seat-sharing ratio between them and the Sena, they were supposed to get the KDMC mayor’s post. However, the Sena retained the post. BJP MLA Ravindra Chavan said, “We were in touch with the Shiv Sena since the very beginning, but the party did not stand by its words as far as the seat-sharing was concerned. We had to put up our own candidate, Vikas Mhatre.”