Kolhapur, MAHARASHTRA :
Kolhapur :
The general body of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday elected Nationalist Congress Party’s Hasina Faras as the next mayor and Congress nominee Arjun Mane as the deputy mayor.
Kunal Khemnar, the chief executive officer of the zilla parishad, presided over the meet to elect mayor and deputy mayor.
The posts were vacant for the past few weeks after mayor Ashwini Ramane and deputy mayor Shama Mulla resigned.
Faras and Mane defeated Bharatiya Janata Party-Tararani Aghadi alliance candidates Smita Mane and Vijay Khade. Despite having less numbers in the house, the opposition alliance had decided to contest the election. Four Shiv Sena corporators abstained from voting, giving as easy win to the ruling alliance.
In the 81-member house, Faras and Mane secured 44 votes each, while the opposition candidates got 33. The opposition was banking on the support of four Sena corporators and was also aiming to get a few more corporators from either Congress or NCP. However, the ruling alliance had issued a whip to their members to vote for the official nominees. To avoid any unfavourable results, all 44 corporators of the ruling alliance were taken to an undisclosed location for two days and were brought directly to the meeting. The voting by raising hands made it easy for the floor leaders to keep a watch on the corporators and to avoid any defection.
Faras is wife of former mayor Babu Faras and mother of former standing committee chairman Adil Faras. She is the first Muslim woman to hold the mayor’s post in the KMC. Faras is close to NCP leader Hasan Mushrif but she may get just a six-month term before stepping down to pave way for other corporators from NCP to become mayor.
Faras said, “I will push the Mahalakshmi temple development plan and also ensure that the Wi-Fi project for the city is initiated. The second phase work of renovation of Keshavrao Bhosale Natyagruha is pending; I will try to get funds from the state government for it.”
The project of Wi-Fi hot spots at various places in the city was proposed by her son Adil when he was chairman of the standing committee. After the new body came into place last year, the project has been on the back burner.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kolhapur News / TNN / December 09th, 2016