Allies Cong and VBA field candidates for posts of mayor, dy mayor in Latur

Latur, Feb 5 (PTI) The Congress and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which contested elections to the Latur civic body in Maharashtra and secured a comfortable majority, have fielded separate candidates for the posts of mayor as well as deputy mayor.

Elections to these posts will be held on February 9.

Congress corporator Jayshri Sonkamble and VBA's Nikita Somwanshi on Thursday submitted their nominations for the post of mayor, while Snehal Utage of the Congress and Sachin Gaikwad of the Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA filed the nominations for deputy mayor's position.

NCP's lone corporator Vikrant Gojamgunde, a former mayor, announced his party's support to the VBA candidates in the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections.

The NCP follows the progressive ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and remains committed to social justice and ensuring political representation for deprived sections of society, he said.

In the 70-member Latur Municipal Corporation, the Congress-VBA combine won 43 seats, followed by the BJP, which bagged 22 seats. The NCP won one seat, while four seats were won by unrecognised parties. PTI COR NP