NCP back in NMMC chairman’s saddle

Party wins Congress’s decisive vote

May 24, 2017 08:31 am | Updated 08:31 am IST - Navi Mumbai

Narrow win:  Shubhangi Patil won by two votes.  File Photo

Narrow win: Shubhangi Patil won by two votes. File Photo

The Nationalist Congress Party has wrested back power in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) Standing Committee after a year. The party’s candidate Shubhangi Patil beat the Sena’s Rucha Ramchandra Patil by a margin of two votes in the election to the post of chairman on Tuesday.

The poll, which was held in the presence of election officer and Additional Collector Raigad P.D. Mallikner, was first time two women were contesting for the post. Sixteen members of the committee voted by a show of hands. Shubhangi received nine votes and Rucha secured seven.

Last year, the Sena seized the chairmanship of the standing committee for the first time after it won the support of Congress member Meera Patil. This year all the eyes were on Meera Patil as her vote would decide the winner. NMMC’s standing committee consists of eight NCP members, six from the Sena, and one each from the Congress and the BJP. If Meera Patil would have voted for the Sena, both candidates would have polled equal votes and the winner would have to be decided by picking lots. Meera Patil said, “I share a good relationship with Santosh Shetty and Shubhangi Patil’s late father D.R. Patil from the Congress. That is why I decided to vote for her.”

Focus on hospitals

After the win, Shubhangi Patil, a second-time corporator from Turbhe area and a diploma holder in electronic engineering, said, “I am thankful to all the committee members for electing me. This win was possible only because of their support and the blessings of my father who was the ex-chairman of the committee when the Congress was in power. As chairman, I will look into the issues faced by the NMMC’s mother and child hospital in Turbhe and Airoli. The hospital lacks the necessary equipment.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.