Civic by-polls: Congress gives NCP Mahim seat

After sparring over the sharing of seats in the upcoming civic by-polls, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have come to a consensus.

After sparring over the sharing of seats in the upcoming civic by-polls, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have come to a consensus.

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When the Congress realised that its candidate, Deepak Talwar, had a very slim chance of winning the seat in Mahim against Shiv Sena’s popular candidate Milind Vaidya, the Congress allowed the NCP to contest from that ward.

“With the NCP adamant on contesting the by-polls and announcing nominations for both the Mahim and Kanjurmarg seats, we didn’t want further competition and decided to give them the Mahim seat,” said a Congress corporator. “We have withdrawn Talwar’s nomination,” said Opposition leader Rajhans Singh.

Congress corporators say they have a good chance of winning the seat in Kanjurmarg as Sena nomination Priyanka Patil is contesting for the first time while their candidate, Suvarna Karanje, has a stronghold in the ward.

The by-polls at Mahim and Kanjurmarg will take place this month end. Sena had won both the seats in the last general civic elections. The wards had been vacated after Mahim corporator Santosh Parab passed away recently, while the civic chief disqualified Kanjurmarg corporator Minakshi Patil over allegations of illegal construction in her house.