BMC polls 2017: Mayor to be elected in first meeting of new House on 8 March

Mumbai: The next mayor of Mumbai will be elected on 8 March, at the first meeting of the new House, civic officials said here on Wednesday. The last date for filing nominations for the post is 8 March and the election will be held at noon the same day, a BMC official said. With no indication yet of any post-poll alliance in the BMC, which has thrown a fractured verdict, it remains to be seen what strategies the political parties adopt for the mayoral poll. [caption id=“attachment_3265338” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] The development comes amid reports that divergent views have emerged within the Shiv Sena and the BJP, the two main parties in the civic body, over the date for holding the first meeting of the newly-elected House. A BMC official said the Municipal Commissioner, who convenes the first meeting of a new House, during which the mayor is elected, has decided on 8 March, the day the term of the current House ends. “However, a Shiv Sena MP has conveyed to the civic chief that his party wants the meeting to be held on 9 March,” he added. Explaining the rationale for insisting that the mayoral poll is held on 8 March and not on 9 March, BJP sources said the seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is scheduled to be held on March 8 and if the Congress was to directly or tacitly back the Sena in the BMC, it could have a bearing on the voting in the northern state. However, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said that his party has not insisted on any specific date for the Mayoral poll. “We will abide by whatever date the BMC administration decides,” he added. Meanwhile, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar on Wednesday said he will be happy if the next mayor of Mumbai was from the Shiv Sena. “I will be happy if a Sena corporator becomes the new Mayor. My roots are there (in Sena),” the former Maharashtra minister said. In the recently-held BMC polls, the Shiv Sena won 84 seats, BJP 82, Congress was relegated to the third spot with 31 seats, NCP got nine and Raj Thackeray’s MNS won seven seats. Sena has claimed that it has secured the support of some Independent candidates.