Bhiwandi: In a setback for the BJP, its rebel member Narayan Chaudhary, who broke away from the party along with five other members and joined the Congress-led ‘Bhiwandi Secular Front’, was on Friday elected mayor of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC). Contesting as mayoral candidate for the front, which included the Congress with 30 members and the Congress Party (SP) with 12, Chaudhary secured 48 votes in a 90-member assembly that was effectively reduced on Friday to 89 with one member abstaining from voting. BJP candidate Sneha Mehul Patel got 16 votes, while Vilas Patel of Konark Vikas Aghadi got 25 votes. Congressman Tariq Momen was elected deputy mayor. He received 43 votes. Maharashtra BJP state president Ravindra Chavan said action will be taken against Chaudhary and other corporators who allegedly defied the party’s whip in the mayoral elections. In the civic elections held on January 15, the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 30 seats, followed by the BJP (22), Shiv Sena (12), NCP (12), SP (6), KVA (4), Bhiwandi Vikas Aghadi (3) and one independent. The Shiv Sena did not go with the BJP in the mayoral elections. While the BJP initially announced that Chaudhary would be its mayoral candidate, it later replaced him with Sneha Patel, leading to Chaudhary’s rebellion and alliance with the KP-SP, which approved his nomination for mayor of the “Secular Front”. Interestingly, while the Bhiwandi Secular Front got 48 votes in the mayoralty contest, with six BJP corporators including Chaudhary voting, the Congress won the deputy mayor post with 43 votes.
The dispute between the BJP and Shinde Sena also worked in favor of the Congress-led front in the election of the deputy mayor as the presence of three candidates favored the Congress.
