Malegaon (Nashik District) , MAHARASHTRA:

Nashik:

Tahira Shaikh of Congress was elected Malegaon Mayor while Nilesh Aher of Shiv Sena her deputy with comfortable leads over the candidates fielded by the NCP, MIM and Janata Dal combine on Thursday.

The elections were being keenly watched by political observers because of BJP’s decision to back the Congress-Sena alliance, which has 42 corporators in the Malegaon civic body while.

All the nine corporators of the BJP toed the party line during the election, thus enabling the Congress-Sena candidates bag 51 votes each. The NCP, MIM and Janata Dal alliance candidates got 32 votes.

The Congress-Sena candidates’ victories were a foregone conclusion as the NCP, MIM and Janata Dal combine have 32 corporators in the Malegaon Municipal Corporation, which has a total strength of 84 elected members.

A Congress office-bearer said that Shaikh is the only Muslim mayor of any city in the state at present. “This is her second stint as Malegaon mayor, the previous one being around seven years ago. She took over the reins from her husband and Congress corporator Shaikh Rashid, who has completed his two-and-a-half-year term.”

“The voting took place by show of hands in the presence of the returning officer and acting Nashik district collector, Bhuvaneswari S,” the Congress worker said.

“Cleanliness and improving the condition of roads will be my priority,” the new mayor said, adding that she would also strive to beautify the city.

The deputy mayor thanked his party for choosing him for the post and vowed that the civic body would work in cohesion with the state government to develop the powerloom town.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Nashik News / by TNN / December 13th, 2019