A major political development unfolded on Sunday in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) of Maharashtra, as two corporators elected from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) announced their support for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. This development has significantly clarified the picture of power formation in the municipal corporation.
In the municipal elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), contesting independently, emerged as the single largest party by winning 37 seats, but it fell short of the required majority. Shiv Sena, on the other hand, secured 36 seats and had already garnered the support of one corporator from its local ally Sai Party and one independent corporator, taking its tally to 38. With the backing of two VBA corporators, Shiv Sena has now comfortably crossed the majority mark, making its claim to the mayor’s post in Ulhasnagar almost certain.
VBA corporators Surekha Sonawane and Vikas Kharat formally submitted their letters of support to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during a meeting at his residence in Mumbai. Kalyan Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde was also present on the occasion. The corporators stated that their decision was taken keeping in mind the overall development of their respective wards, particularly to accelerate works related to Dalit settlement improvement schemes and other local development projects.
Following the latest political realignments, the process of forming a new administration in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation is expected to gain momentum in the coming days.
Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Election
Elections for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra were held on January 15 and the counting of votes happened on July 16. To conduct the voting, more than 39,000 polling booths were arranged across the state for a total of 2,869 seats. Around 3.49 crore voters were eligible to take part in the election process.
The civic bodies that went to polls included Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Thane, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Aurangabad (now known as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar), Kolhapur, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Nanded-Waghala, Malegaon, Latur, Parbhani, Navi Mumbai, Vasai–Virar City, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Mira Bhayandar, Panvel, Chandrapur, Sangli-Mirajpur-Kupwad, Dhule, Ichalkaranji and Jalna.
(Reported by Sunil Sharma)
