NCP’s Caitlin Pereira elected Mira-Bhayandar mayor

It was proved yet again that the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) hold the key of power in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).

Caitlin Pereira, daughter of NCP MLA Gilbert Mendonca, was elected mayor and Sayyad Noorjahan Husain, mother of Mira-Bhayandar Congress chief Muzaffar Husain, was elected as deputy mayor on Tuesday. They were elected with the support of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and one elected independent candidate.

Caitlin Pereira won against Shiv Sena candidate Prabhakar Mhatre with a difference of seven votes, while Sayyad Noorjahan Husain won against Bhartiya Janata Party’s Sharad Patil with a similar margin. The saffron alliance of the BJP and the Shiv Sena, which tried its best to gain power for the first time in MBMC, was reduced to being a mute spectator throughout. In the recently-conducted MBMC elections, the saffron alliance emerged as the single largest victor with 43 seats. However, the Congress and NCP joined hands to keep the saffron alliance from gaining power. BVA, with three seats, along with MNS and one independent candidate backed the Congress-NCP alliance.

Caitlin is third woman to be mayor, after Nirmala Sable and Mayara Mendonca (her mother), while Sayyad Noorjahan Husain is first female deputy mayor of Mira Bhayandar.

Caitlin assured people that she will do justice to her post by developing the twin cities. “I will try to serve the people of the city with transparent governance,” she added.