With the BJP stepping aside and extending its support to it, the Shiv Sena had a cakewalk in the Mumbai mayoral polls on Monday, as its candidate Vishwanath Pandurang Mahadeshwar trounced the Congress’ nominee Vittal Govind lokhare by a vast margin of 140 votes.
Sena’s Hemangi Warlikar was elected Mumbai’s deputy Mayor as she defeated Vinni D’souza of the Congress by a margin of 130 votes.
The Sena’s victory in the Mumbai mayoral and deputy mayoral polls had become a mere formality on Saturday last itself, when Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the BJP would not contest the twin polls and also not seek elections to chairmanships of any civic committees, including the crucial Standing Committee.
What rendered the Mumbai mayoral and deputy mayoral polls into a virtual no contest for the Shiv Sena (with a strength of 84 of its own corporators and four independents supporting it) was the fact that the BJP with 82 seats threw its weight behind the Sena, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS ( with seven members) boycotted the polls and 16 corporators — including 15 of those belonging to NCP and Samjawadi Party chose to remain neutral in the polls.
In the mayoral polls, Sena’s Mahadeshwar polled 171 votes as against 31 votes secured by the Congress’ lokhare. In the deputy mayoral polls, Hemangi of the Sena polled 166 votes, while the Congress’ Vinni secured 31 votes. As many as 5 votes were declared invalid in the deputy mayoral polls.
Ahead of the mayoral and deputy polls, the Shiv Sena staged a massive show of strength outside the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai. The BJP corporators also made their presence inside the BMC house, through their vociferous “Modi, Modi” chants. Not to be outdone, the Sena corporators shouted slogans hailing late Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray and Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Prominent among those present in the BMC during Wednesday’s polls were Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi Thackeray, son Aditya, Sena Ministers Subhash Desai, Diwakar Raote and Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam.
After the polls, Uddhav congratulated Mahadeshwar and Hemangi on their election as the Mayor and deputy Mayor respectively.