Mumbai civic polls BJP Sena to hold meetings to elect group leaders says Ameet Satam

Mumbai, Jan 22 (PTI) The BJP will hold a meeting of its newly-elected corporators in the next two to three days to choose a group leader and complete the group registration process with the Konkan divisional commissioner, the party's Mumbai unit chief Ameet Satam said on Thursday.
The party's ally in the January 15 civic polls, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, will do the same during this period, he added.
After this, both parties will approach the Konkan divisional commissioner for registration, Satam told reporters.
"The BJP will provide leadership that meets the expectations of Mumbai's residents. The city will be free of potholes, waterlogging and corruption," Satam said.
Mumbai is already witnessing development under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he added.
Responding to claims by some Shiv Sena leaders that the BJP deliberately allotted them wards with a sizeable Muslim population for the civic polls, Satam said every seat was discussed in detail before finalising the seat-sharing arrangement.
"The BJP is analysing 109 wards where either a BJP or Shiv Sena candidate lost the election, and comments on the allegations would be made only after the analysis is completed," Satam said. The BJP and Shiv Sena together won 118 seats in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
There is no misunderstanding between BJP and Shiv Sena and the alliance would study shortcomings and work to improve its performance in future elections, Satam said.
He said the BJP was proud that a woman would hold the mayor's post in the metropolis. Mumbai's next mayor will be a woman from the general category, as determined by a lottery held earlier in the day.
Explaining the reservation for the Mumbai mayor's post, Satam said it had earlier been reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate and was therefore excluded from SC reservation this time.
He said civic bodies that went to polls were arranged alphabetically and the BMC stood at the 17th position, which is why OBC reservation was not applicable this time.
The reservation may come into effect after the first two-and-a-half years, Satam pointed out.
Satam mocked the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena saying the party will speak rationally only after it emerges from the shock of getting seats in single digits in the Mumbai civic polls.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)