Putting all speculations to rest of an imminent split in the Maharashtra government, Shiv Sena's Vishwanath Mahadeshwar was elected as the Mayor of the Bombay Municipal Corporation by the newly elected corporators of the ruling BJP-Sena combine.
Mahadeshwar won 171 votes out of the 218 who participated in the process.
The incumbent Mayor presided over the proceedings after which the new Mayor and the Deputy Mayor were elected.
However, Mahadeshwar is facing legal trouble after a case has been filed in the court challenging his election.
Local leader of the Congress Dharmesh Vyas, who filed a petition, said, "As a principal of a government-aided school, he had suppressed the information that he was drawinga salary from government grants which makes him ineligible even to become a corporator."
The matter would be heard on April 6.
Another independent candidate from the same ward, Mahendra Pawar too has filed a case alleging that a mayoral candidate has purchased his current flat by "flouting therules".
The hearing in the matter will take place on March 23.
Calls and message sent to Mahadeshwar by news agency PTI did not elicit any response.
However, his close associate said that the petitioners are the ones who have lost elections and are levelling such "baseless" allegations after being "politically motivated".
Earlier, Shiv Sena Corporator Meenakshi Shinde was on Monday elected as Thane Mayor unopposed while Ramakant Madvi, also of the Sena, was elected DeputyMayor without any contest.
Thane Collector Mahendra Kalyankar presided over the election process.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which has ruled the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for the last 25 years, retained its hold on the civic body in the last month's elections. It secured a majority winning 67 of the total 131 seats.
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