BMC elections: 4 former mayors, 3 ex-deputy mayors in poll ring, most of them as Sena (UBT) nominees

Mumbai, Jan 7 (PTI) Four former mayors of Mumbai, who held the city's top position at different points of time from 1996 to 2022, and three ex-deputy mayors are contesting the next week's keenly-watched elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body.

Close relatives of some former first citizens of the metropolis are also in the fray this time.

Elections to the BMC and 28 other civic bodies in the state will be held on January 15, and the results will be declared the next day.

Amid a heated political debate over whether Mumbai's next mayor should be Marathi or non-Marathi and Hindu or Muslim, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded four former mayors and two former deputy mayors while the BJP has given a ticket to a former deputy mayor.

Former mayors Kishori Pednekar (Ward 199), Shraddha Jadhav (Ward 202), Vishakha Raut (Ward 191), and Milind Vaidya (Ward 182), along with former deputy mayors Suhas Wadekar (Ward 41) and Hemangi Waralikar (Ward 193), are contesting on the Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket.

The BJP has fielded former deputy mayor Alka Kerkar.

Shiv Sena (UBT) has also given tickets to close relatives of some former mayors who are not contesting elections themselves.

Sena (UBT) MLA and former mayor Sunil Prabhu's son, Ankit Prabhu, is contesting from Ward 54 in Goregaon East. Sunil Prabhu had served as Mumbai mayor from 2012 to 2014.

Meanwhile, Puja Mahadeshwar, wife of former mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar (2017-2019), is contesting from Ward 87 in Santacruz East.

Congress leader and former mayor Chandrakant Handore's daughter, Prajyoti Handore, is contesting from Ward 140 in the Chembur-Govandi belt as a Congress candidate. Handore had served as Mumbai mayor in 1992-93.

The Mumbai civic body has a long legacy of mayors dating back to 1931, when J B Boman Behram became the city's first mayor.

The entry of several former civic chiefs and deputy mayors has added political heft to the contest for the civic body in the country's financial capital, which will see polling across 227 wards.

Several high-profile candidates are in the fray, making the election keenly-watched.

Three-time corporator and Mumbai's most recent mayor, Kishori Pednekar, who occupied the position from November 2019 to March 2022, is contesting from Ward 192 as a Sena (UBT) candidate.

Pednekar, who worked as a nurse before entering politics, was first elected as a corporator from the Lower Parel area in 2002. She subsequently won the civic elections in 2012 and 2017 on the ticket of the undivided Shiv Sena before becoming the city mayor in 2019.

Six-time corporator Shraddha Jadhav is contesting from the Parel-Bhoiwada area in central Mumbai. First elected in 1992, she has retained the seat in every election since.

For Jadhav, who served as mayor from December 2009 to March 2012, winning the civic polls for a seventh time has become challenging due to an internal rebellion, with former Shiv Sena 'shakha pramukh' (local unit head) Vijay Indulkar contesting as an independent.

Milind Vaidya, who was mayor between 1996 and 1997, is contesting from Ward 182 in the Mahim area, while Vishakha Raut, who succeeded him as mayor from 1997 to 1998, has been given a ticket from the Dadar-Shivaji Park area.

This locality houses Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which is contesting the civic polls against Uddhav Thackeray-led party for the first time since its formation in March 2006.

Former deputy mayors Suhas Wadekar and Hemangi Waralikar are contesting from Ward 41 in Goregaon East and Worli Koliwada, respectively, as Sena (UBT) candidates.

Former deputy mayor Alka Kerkar, who served from 2014 to 2017, is contesting from the Khar-Santacruz belt on the BJP ticket.

In a blow to the Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of the elections, Shubha Raul, who was Mumbai mayor from 2007-09, joined the BJP on January 4.

The BMC, which governs the country's financial capital, commands a massive annual budget of over Rs 74,000 crore and is considered politically significant. PTI KK NP