Pune: NCP candidate Mohansingh Rajpal was
today elected as the mayor of Pune Municipal Corporation
(PMC).
Rajpal defeated his Shiv Sena rival Deepak Gawde in the
election, which also signalled an end of the controversial
"Pune Pattern".
The alliance, known as "Pune Pattern", had generated
political heat during the last mayoral polls when the Congress
took strong objection to NCP's truck with Sena-BJP.
Rajpal was polled 89 votes against 45 that went in favour
of Gawde. Prasanna Jagtap of Congress was elected deputy mayor
as he defeated BJP nominee Vishnu Harihar by 45 votes.
Congress-NCP and Shiv Sena-BJP fronts in the PMC have a
strength of 90 and 46 respectively in the 144 member new
house. The eight-member MNS group did not cast their votes.
Even as the voting took place on the expected lines, the
election formally marked reunion of the allies, NCP and
Congress, in the civic body which had witnessed a post-poll
alliance between NCP and Saffron brigade after the last
elections that threw up a hung house.
It led to an acrimony between NCP leader Ajit Pawar, the
architect of 'Pune Pattern" and city Congress MP Suresh
Kalmadi.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 01, 2009, 19:43