Maya Iwnate of BJP is new Nagpur mayor

Nagpur, July 15 (UNI) Maya Iwnate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected unopposed the new Mayor of Nagpur here today.

Ms Iwnate was declared elected after her rival candidates, Pushpa Lanjewar and Sindhu Uike, both belonging to the Congress, withdrew their nominations just before the elections this morning.

Ms Iwnate represents ward number 46 (Ambazari) in the general body of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). This is her second consecutive term as councillor, having been elected to the House in 2002. The post of Mayor in NMC has been reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST).

The election was held as Deorao Umredkar, also of the BJP, who was elected mayor in March 2007, and eight other members of NMC were disqualified last month after their claim of ST status was rejected by the caste scrutiny committee. The nine disqualified members included five from the BJP, three from the Shiv Sena and one from the Congress.

A plea by eight disqualified members belonging to the BJP and the Shiv Sena, including Mr Umredkar, against the decision of the caste scrutiny committee, was dismissed by the High Court here earlier this month.

The strength of the 136-member NMC general body has been reduced to 126 because of the disqualification of the nine members and the recent death of a Congress councillor. The party-wise strength in the general body now is BJP - 50, Shiv Sena - 5, Congress - 31, NCP - 8, BSP - 5, RJD - 3, MNS - 2, Independents - 11 and others - 11, with 10 vacancies.

UNI