Bhiwandi, Feb 20 (IANS) Dramatic developments took place on Friday during the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation. Outmanoeuvring the BJP, the Congress party has seized power in the Municipal Corporation with the support of rebel BJP corporators. While BJP rebel candidate Narayan Chaudhary was elected Mayor, Congress candidate Tariq Momin won the Deputy Mayor’s post with a majority.

The Presiding Officer and Thane District Collector, Shrikrishna Panchal, officially announced their victory. Narayan Chaudhary (BJP rebel) got 48 votes, Vilas Patil (Konark Vikas Aghadi) 25 votes and Sneha Mehul Patil (official BJP candidate) bagged just 16 votes.

The election for the Deputy Mayor’s post saw a triangular contest in which Tariq Momin (Congress) won by bagging 43 votes, Javed Dalvi (Shiv Sena-Shinde Faction) got 25 votes and Suhas Nakate (BJP) 21 votes.

With this victory, the Congress has once again proved its strength in Bhiwandi.

The election witnessed high-voltage drama from the start. Shinde’s Shiv Sena withdrew both its candidates, Balaram Chaudhary and Suchita Rupesh Mhatre, to extend support to Vilas R. Patil, the former Mayor and leader of the Konark Vikas Aghadi. However, this move failed to consolidate enough power to stop Narayan Chaudhary.

In a surprising development, six BJP corporators broke ranks to support Chaudhary, joining forces with the Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) to ensure his win. The mayoral race ultimately became a three-way contest.

Eventually Narayan Chaudhary got 48 votes, Vilas R Patil bagged 25 and Sneha Mehul Patil got 16 votes.

Earlier, several candidates had filed nominations, including Mayuresh Vilas Patil, Pratibha Patil, Javed Dalvi, and Tariq Momin.

At the beginning of the deputy mayoral election, Mayuresh Patil of the Konark Vikas Aghadi suffered a major setback. Socialist Party corporator Shabana Ansari had signed as a ‘proposer’ on Mayuresh Patil’s application and as a ‘seconder’ on Javed Dalvi’s application.

Since the same person took a role for two different candidates, Mayuresh Patil’s application was declared invalid during the scrutiny process, leaving Javed Dalvi in the race.

In the Deputy Mayor election, the Congress candidate Momin received 43 votes, while the BJP candidate Nakate got 21. This indicates that 5 votes that went to Chaudhary shifted back to the BJP for the Deputy Mayor’s post.

Another dramatic turn was the absence of Independent candidate Nitesh Enkar. Although Enkar had registered his support for Vilas Patil (Konark-Shinde Sena group), he remained absent on the day of voting, sparking political discussions regarding his stance.

Today’s elections to the mayoral and deputy mayor posts were marked by shifting alliances, technical disqualifications, and unexpected absences, significantly altering the power dynamics within the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation.

The defection of the six BJP corporators proved to be the ‘X-factor’ in the election. Their decision to back a rebel candidate over the party’s official nominee, Sneha Patil, handed Narayan Chaudhary an unexpected and commanding lead, allowing him to claim the mayoral seat.

–IANS

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