With the election of Celina Parerra as mayor of the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation on Tuesday, the Nationalist Congress Party now, has to its credit the most number of mayors in the state — seven out of the 26 corporations.
From its inception in 1999, the NCP had its base predominately in western Maharashtra and rural areas of other parts of the state. However, the number of mayors from NCP signifies that the party has now consolidated its base in urban areas too. The party is already doing better than the rest in local self-governments in rural areas, winning maximum seats in village panchayats, municipal councils and zilla parishad. “We have a point to prove. With most number of mayors, we have proved that the NCP is doing well all over the state,” spokesperson Madan Bafana said.
Ms Parerra, daughter of NCP MLA Gilbert Mendoca, was elected as the mayor of the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation and Noor Jahan Sayya, mother of Congress leader Muzzafar Hussain, was elected deputy mayor of the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation. Ms Parerra won the elections by 50 votes, as against the BJP-Shiv Sena candidate, who won 43 votes.
The NCP had contested the civic election on its own. However, with the NCP winning 27 seats despite internal strife and getting post-election support of Congress with 19 corporators, the party managed to win the mayoral election. Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which has always been with the Congress, voted for NCP.