In an unexpected turn of events, Shrichand Tejwani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected as the mayor of the Amravati municipal corporation on Friday following support from a corporate of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
The Amravati municipal corporation has 87 seats. Of these, the BJP won 22, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 11 and the Shiv Sena three. MLA Ravi Rana's Yuva Swabhiman Party (YSP) also bagged 15 seats. The BJP and the YSP were in an alliance, but their coalition ended before the polling. In the previous elections, the BJP had won 45 seats and the YSP had bagged three seats.
On the other hand, Congress also won 15 seats. The AIMIM won 12 seats, Mayawati's Bahunjan Samaj Party (BSP) won three, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) won two, and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) won just one seat.
AIMIM candidate expelled
Tejwani was elected Amravati's mayor after AIMIM corporator Meera Kamble voted in favour of the BJP candidate. Following this, the party has decided to expel Kamble, stating that her decision was against the party’s ideology and discipline.
Meanwhile, YSP's Sachin Bhende has been elected as the deputy mayor of Amravati municipal corporation.
The BJP-YSP alliance dilemma
Ahead of the polling on January 15, the BJP and the YSP had ended their alliance; although the saffron party claimed that Ravi Rana's wife Navneet Rana was supporting it. However, as many as 22 BJP leaders had written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, claiming that Navneet Rana was allegedly campaigning against the saffron party.
"We are devoted and hardworking party workers, connected with society. But our defeat in this election is not due to the Opposition, but because of senior BJP leader Navneet Rana openly campaigning against the party," they said.
The elections to all municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including Amravati, were held on January 15 and the results were declared by the State Election Commission (SEC) on January 16.
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