PUNE: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporators have started lobbying for the mayor’s post ahead of mayoral election to be held on November 22 at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) building. The corporators who could not get party tickets during the State Assembly polls are in the race for the post.
The State Urban Development Department has drawn the lots for various quotas for the mayor’s post on Wednesday and Pune mayor will be elected from the general category. Currently, Mukta Tilak is the city mayor. Her tenure of two and a half years ends on November 22. There are a total of 164 corporators in the PMC and BJP has the majority with 98 corporators. Therefore, the party will offer the post to one of its corporators from the general category. There is tough competition in the party to get the post.
Senior corporators Murlidhar Mohol, Hemant Rasane, Dheeraj Ghate, Rajendra Shilimkar, Prasanna Jagtap are in the race. They were also among the aspirants for the State Assembly polls. However, they were not given tickets by BJP.
These candidates are meeting senior party leaders to get the post. Besides, younger corporator Sushil Mengde, Deepak Pote, Raja Laigude are also among the aspirants for the mayor’s post.
The municipal secretary’s office has announced the schedule for the mayoral election. Aspirants will have to file nominations on November 18 between 11 am and 1 pm. The mayoral election will be held at 11 am on November 22 at PMC’s general body meeting hall presided over by Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency Director Kaustubh Diwegaonkar.