Mumbai: First time Shiv Sena corporator Snehal Ambekar was elected as the 73rd Mayor of Mumbai, while BJP's Alka Kerkar was elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Mayor on Tuesday.
Ambekar, a former LIC officer, who had won the municipal elections from G-South (Parel) ward, was elected to the post and is the fourth woman corporator to occupy it in BMC's history.
The elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor were held on Tuesday at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai as Sena's Sunil Prabhu completed his two-and-half-years term as the city mayor. Ambekar, who secured 121 votes in the 226 member House, was pitted against Congress corporator from the H-East (Bandra) ward Dr Priyatama Sawant for the post, who secured 64 votes.
Later, while talking to reporters, Ambekar said, "My immediate priorities are to build public toilets for women, and take up issues related to children's health. I will also work towards beautifying Mumbai and address matters related to garbage collection and traffic jams." Kerkar, who was pitted against NCP's Powai corporator Chandan Sharma, was elected unopposed after the Congress-NCP boycotted the election to protest the entry of Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray in the House when the election process was going on.
"Although Uddhav Thackeray is not the member of the House, he entered it when the election for the Deputy Mayor's post was in progress. No one is permitted to enter the House when elections are going on, but he came to wish the newly-elected mayor. This was a very wrong thing to do, which is why we boycotted the polls," Leader of the Opposition in BMC, Devendra Amberkar, said.
The state government, through a lottery system, had reserved the seat for the mayor post for Scheduled Caste Woman category.
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