Chandrapur, February 10 The Congress, which was on the verge of securing the mayoral position in the Chandrapur Municipal Corporation, faced a setback on Tuesday when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Sangeeta Khandekar was elected to the post with the support of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Prashant Danav was elected as the deputy mayor.
Until Monday, there was no clarity on alliances within the civic body following the fractured results in the January 15 polls.
The Congress emerged as the largest party with 27 seats in the 66-member civic body, while the BJP came close second with 23, prompting a race between the two parties to form a coalition and secure the coveted mayoral and deputy mayor positions.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) had secured six seats, three for the Bharatiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksh (Janvikas Sena), two for the VBA, one each for AIMIM, BSP, and Shiv Sena. Two independent candidates also won the polls, and their results were announced on January 16.
Sources had stated on Monday that talks between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had not yielded a solution, while Janvikas Sena leader Pappu Deshmukh had said his party would provide support to the Congress.
Nominations for the mayoral position were filed by Manasvi Sandeep Girhe of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sangeeta Mangal Bhoyar, Sangeeta Gopalakrishna Amritkar, Sunanda Dilip Dhobe, and Vaishali Ajay Mahadule of the Congress, as well as BJP's Sangeeta Rajendra Khandekar and Sarika Sachin Sandurkar.
According to sources, BJP's Khandekar secured the mayoral position by one vote over her nearest rival, with the support of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Six nominations were filed for the deputy mayor position, including two each from the BJP and Congress, one from Bharatiya Shetkari Kamghar Paksh (Janvikas Sena), and one from an independent.
