Top BJP contenders for sought after mayor post

While Shinde Sena vies to hold the post, BJP will likely install its leader, given the numerical strength

- Devashri Bhujbal

Mumbai will get a woman mayor for a second consecutive term and a mayor from the open category for the third time in a row. This became clear in the lottery held on Thursday for all 29 municipal corporations. A woman from the general category came in the BMC's draw.

Although Shinde Sena is demanding the coveted post for the first two-and-a-half years, it will most likely go in the BJP’s kitty, given the latter's numerical strength. If that happens, the BJP will realise its 30-year-old dream to install a mayor in India's richest civic body.

With 89 corporators, the BJP has several options for mayoral candidates, including party loyalists, many-time corporators and known faces in the party's Mumbai unit. The name of former deputy mayor and senior corporator Alka Kerkar, 73, is at the top. Elected from ward 98 (Santacruz West), she has been a RSS member and was elected unopposed as deputy mayor in 2014 when the undivided Sena’s Snehal Ambekar was picked as mayor.