Surmanjiri Latkar elected mayor, Mohite deputy; Sena skips voting

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Kolhapur: It was smooth sailing for the NCP and Congress candidates in the Kolhapur mayoral elections on Tuesday as Shiv Sena corporators abstained from voting amid differences with its ally, BJP, in forming the state government.
Surmanjiri Latkar of the NCP was elected the 49th mayor while Sanjay Mohite of Congress bagged the deputy mayor’s post. Each of them received support from 43 corporators while their opponents Bhagyashri Shetke of the BJP and Tararani Aghadi’s Kamlakar Bhopale got 32 votes each.
District collector Daulat Desai monitored the election process, which started at 11am, amid heavy police deployment in the area.
Out of 81 corporators, 75 attended the election process. Shiv Sena’s four corporators and a corporator belonging to Tararani Aghadi abstained from voting. Shama Mulla, NCP corporator, was recently disqualified.
The Sena corporators who skipped the election process were Niyaz Khan, Ajinkya Chavan, Rahul Chavan and Pratidnya Utture. Tejaswini Ingawale of Tararani Aghadi, who abstained from voting, is likely to face disciplinary action from the party. Her husband, Ravikiran Ingawale, is now a Shiv Sena office bearer.
In order to avoid disciplinary action, BJP corporators Jayashri Jadhav and Sambhaji Jadhav voted for the BJP-Tararani Aghadi candidates. Jayashri is wife and Sambhaji is brother of the recently elected city MLA Chandrakant Jadhav.
The new MLA was elected on a Congress ticket and the Congress-NCP candidates were hoping to get their support. At the last moment, both decided against defying the party whip.
Interestingly, the Sena corporators had been approached by the BJP during the last mayoral elections while claiming that the Sena was its ally in the state government. However, the Sena corporators did not vote for the BJP-Tararani Aghadi alliance even then. Now, with the equations changing at the state level, the BJP did not approach them.
Meanwhile, the traffic police halted vehicles moving towards the KMC headquarters for over an hour and a one-way traffic system was enforced on some routes.
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BOX
Votes
Mayor
Surmanjiri Latkar (NCP)-43
Bhagyashri Shetke-32
Deputy Mayor
Sanjay Mohite (NCP)-43
Kamlakar Bhopale (Tararani Aghadi)-32
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Total corporators-81
Corporators present-75
Corporators abstained-5
Corporator disqualified-1
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Steering in hands of Ruturaj Patil
Newly elected young MLA of Kolhapur South Ruturaj Patil drove candidates of Congress and NCP alliance to KMC building in his car. Corporators of Congress and NCP were taken to undisclosed location and were brought directly to KMC just few minutes before the state of election process.
Profiles
Surmanjiri Latkar, mayor
Age-40 years
Profession-Lawyer
Ward-Shahu College
-Mother of two girls-Mandira and Medha
Political background
Husband Rajesh Latkar is a former chairman of KMC’s standing Committee, held post of city chief of NCP. Now, steers campaign speeches for Cong-NCP candidates.
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Sanjay Mohite, deputy mayor
Age-58 years
Profession-Real estate developer
Education-12th
Son-Sourabh
Political
Mohite is a two time corporator known for his direct connect to the citizens from his Skyes Extension ward
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Latkar 49th mayor of KMC
After elections in 2015, KMC has already witnessed six mayors. The political compulsions has led to electing of 12 mayors in last ten years