MUMBAI: In a major setback for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, his party’s councillors in the
Ahmednagar municipal corporation on Friday defied the party whip and voted in favour
BJP mayoral nominee Babasaheb Wakale. All 18
NCP councillors voted in favour of Wakale, as a result of which he was unanimously elected mayor of the Ahmednagar civic body by 37-0 votes. In the House of 68, no party had a clear majority.
The Shiv Sena had 24 members, followed by NCP (18), BJP (14), Congress (5), BSP (4), SP (1) and independents (2).
A month ago, state NCP president Jayant Patil, in the presence of NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil, had asked Ahmednagar-based party activists to ensure NCP councillors did not vote for a BJP or Sena nominee. While Sena did not put up any candidate, it appears the NCP councillors did not take the directive seriously.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik told TOI that the councillors defied the party whip, following which a show-cause notice has been served on all 18 councillors. “They have been asked to reply within a week. We will decide the course of action against the erring councillors after receiving their reply,” Malik said.
He said since the NCP had contested the civic polls jointly with the Congress and other like-minded parties, it was expected that the NCP councillors would vote for a joint candidate or if there is no candidate, they would not participate in the voting process. “We are concerned over the way our councillors defied the party whip,” Malik said.
The outcome of the mayoral elections comes as a boost for the BJP, particularly for Girish Mahajan, who has succeeded in securing control over all the municipal corporations in Northern Maharashtra. After Jalgaon, Dhule and Nashik, BJP has now gained control over the Ahmednagar civic corporation.
Ever since the mayoral poll was declared, Mahajan had been camping in Ahmednagar. “No doubt we were short of a clear majority, but we still decided to contest the elections, and the councillors have elected our nominee,” Mahajan said.