Standing, transport panel chiefs to be elected on NMC foundation day

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will elect chairpersons of its Standing Committee and Transport Committee on March 2, coinciding with the civic body's foundation day. Though the election will follow due procedure, it is expected to be a formality as the names have already been finalised.
At Tuesday's special general body meeting, NMC announced members for Standing, Transport and other key committees. As per rules, the chairpersons are elected by the respective committee members. Once the process concludes, Shivani Dani will formally take charge as Standing Committee chairperson, while Mangala Khekare will head the Transport Committee. BJP, which returned to power in NMC for the fourth consecutive term, took over a month to finalise appointments to various panels. In a significant political move, the party handed over all major committees to women corporators. Of the 16 members in the Standing Committee, all 11 BJP nominees are women — a clear attempt to project a strong message of women's empowerment. After appointing Nita Thakre as Mayor and Leela Hathibed as Deputy Mayor, indications were strong that the Standing Committee post would also go to a woman. Shivani Dani, a first-time corporator from Ward 36, had been widely discussed for the role, though the official announcement was delayed reportedly due to internal deliberations. The Transport Committee, which controls an independent budget, had attracted interest from several senior male corporators. However, sticking to its women-led strategy, BJP appointed Mangala Khekare, who will become the first woman to head the panel. District collector Vipin Itankar would be the presiding officer of the election process, which will include nomination filing, scrutiny and, if required, voting before the formal declaration of results.