Councillors to elect Patna deputy mayor today

PATNA: The stage is set for the election of deputy mayor of Patna on Thursday. As many as 74 elected councillors of the Patna Municipal Corporation will elect the new deputy mayor. The results, followed by the oath-taking ceremony, will be held the same evening.
One needs 38 or 50% of the votes of the existing strength of councillors to win the election. The election will be held through secret ballot paper.
Rajni Devi, a councillor of ward number 22 (C) of Digha area, is one of the candidates for the post.She had earlier contested for the post of mayor in 2017 and lost by three votes against Sita Sahu, who had got 38 votes.
The mayor camp will select one among the empowered committee members Indradeep Chandravanshi (ward 48) and Ashish Kumar Sinha (ward 38) besides Archana Ray (ward 29), Suchitra Singh (ward 22B) and Sweta Ray (ward 14) to contest for the deputy mayor post.
Chandravanshi told this newspaper on Wednesday that mayor Sahu would finalise the candidate for the deputy mayor post. “We want a candidate who can work for the development of the city under the leadership of Patna mayor. As only eight months are left for the civic body election, we all want to work in peace and harmony,” he said.
Ashish said the candidate will be announced only before the voting and they will also support him or her without any conflict or grudge.
Patna DM-cum-district electoral officer Chandrashekhar Singh and Patna municipal commissioner Himanshu Sharma with other officials of the civic body will be present during the election.
The councillors were busy in hectic lobbying and attended meetings secretly throughout the day on Wednesday.