At least 12 sitting or former corporators from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) across political parties are keen on contesting the Assembly polls that are likely to be held in October.
Parties consider sitting and former corporators as candidates with a potential to win owing to their contacts in their respective areas, while corporators consider it a step-up in their career. Among the aspirants are four corporators from the Congress, two from Shiv Sena, three from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); Rais Shaikh from Samajwadi Party, and Geeta Gawli, daughter of Arun Gawli from Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS). The parties, however, are yet to take a decision.
According to sources from the Congress, Opposition leader in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Ravi Raja is keen on contesting from Sion, where BJP’s Tamil Selvan is the sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA). Another aspirant is Asif Zakaria, currently a corporator from Bandra, where sitting BJP MLA Ashish Shelar had defeated Congress’s Baba Siddique in 2014. Amin Kutti, a Congress corporator from the western suburbs and Vitthal Lokare, who resigned from the party on August 5 to join the Shiv Sena, are among the other names. Lokare is likely to fight from Mankhurd against SP’s Abu Asim Azmi. Some of the Congress corporators even appeared before the state panel of observers for the interview two weeks ago.
In case of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), sources said no candidate has expressed interest yet. The NCP has nine sitting corporators in the BMC. An NCP leader said, “There were talks that the NCP leadership was keen on fielding party group leader in the BMC, Rakhi Jadhav, but she does not seem to be interested.”
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is likely to take a call in the next 10 days, a party leader said. “One of the corporators who have shown interest is Sandeep Deshpande, who has been very vocal in the BMC earlier,” he said.
Sources from the BJP said sitting corporators namely Neil Somaiya, son of Kirit Somaiya, is said to be interested in contesting from Mulund, a seat held by party’s sitting MLA Sardar Tara Singh for the past few decades. When contacted, Neil said, “I cannot comment on anything, but I will do whatever the party decides and offers to me.”
A BJP leader said, “Two more sitting corporators, including Atul Shah, have shown interest. We also need a senior leader in the BMC, as Manoj Kotak has been elected as an MP. Sandeep Patel, a first-time corporator from Goregaon and son of BJP’s former corporator Dilip Patel, is also in talks.”
When contacted, Niranjan Shetty, Mumbai BJP spokesperson, said, “The process to pick candidates will begin in the coming days.”
In Shiv Sena, corporator Ashish Chemburkar, too, is interested in the Assembly polls. “I respect the party and the leadership. I will follow the decision by the party leadership,” he said. Yamini Jadhav, a former corporator and wife of BMC’s standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav, is also interested in contesting the elections, sources from Sena said. However, her candidature could be in danger after former NCP leader Sachin Ahir recently joined the Shiv Sena and has announced his decision to fight the Assembly polls from Byculla.
