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A woman likely to be Mumbai's next mayor

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Mumbai's next mayor will be a woman from the scheduled caste! The decision came about through the draw of lottery. The urban development department (UD) held the lottery on Saturday as the present mayor, Sunil Prabhu's stipulated two-and-a-half year tenure comes to an end next month.

With the lottery awarding the post to a SC candidate, two Shiv Sena (ruling party) corporators--Snehal Ambekar from ward number 194 (Parel, BDD chawl) and Dr Bharti Bavdane from ward number 117 (Amrut Nagar, Vikhroli)--have emerged as the front-runners. Both these women are first timers. Ambekar has a BCom degree while Bavdane is a (MBBS) doctor.

"Ambekar is a bit more aggressive than Bavdane, who prefers to keep a low profile. The party leadership will take the call regarding whom to nominate as the candidate," said a senior Sena corporator.

Meanwhile, civic officials are confused over the lottery results. "It is not clear to us whether the reservation is meant for a corporator, who was elected from the ward reserved for SC women (during 2012 civic polls) or a corporator belonging to that particular category but has won from a general ward. We will seek the opinion of the UD again on August 19," said a senior official.

If UD restricts the reservation only to woman candidate hailing from SC community, then there will be one more contestant in fray for the post and that would be Yamini Jadhav, Sena corporator from ward number 207 (Mazgaon).

After the draw of lottery, Prabhu expressed satisfaction over his performance as the mayor. "I have received support from all corporators, be it those from the ruling party or the opposition. The experience of being a mayor is very fulfilling. I am happy with whatever I have achieved. I will perform whatever duty the party assigns me. Uddhav Thackeray will now decide who the next mayor will be," Prabhu said.

A member of the opposition said: "Prabhu did a good job in the House. He did not keep issues pending. But I cannot recollect any particular civic work (he has undertaken) that can be considered an achievement."

Opposition leader Devendra Amberkar, meanwhile, said the Congress planned to field Dr Priyatama Sawant of ward number 90 (Bandra Terminus, Nirmal Nagar) or Usha Kamble of ward number 140 (RCF, Chembur) as its candidate.

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