Mumbai: The election for the chairperson of the F North and F South BMC ward committee dealt a setback to the UBT Shiv Sena. Despite the Maha Vikas Aghadi having a numerical advantage — with the Thackeray faction, Congress and the MNS together — its candidate and former Mumbai Mayor Shraddha Jadhav lost the contest.Sources said the outcome followed a political strategy by the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) ahead of the vote. The faction is believed to have succeeded in keeping Congress corporator Ayesha Sofiyan Vanu and Samajwadi Party corporator Iram Siddiqui away from the voting process.The 17-member committee comprises BJP (5 corporators), the Thackeray faction (6), Shinde faction (3), Congress (1), Samajwadi Party (1) and MNS (1). While the BJP and Shinde faction together had 8 members, the Thackeray faction, Congress and MNS also had 8. In such a situation, the Samajwadi Party corporator’s vote was seen as crucial, and if the member remained neutral, the result was decided by drawing lots.However, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party corporators absent during the vote, the equation shifted. Shiv Sena’s Mansi Satamkar secured 8 votes, while Shraddha Jadhav received 7, losing the election by 1 vote.The polls were among elections held for chairpersons of 6 of the 17 ward committees of the BMC for the 2026–27 term.BJP candidates were elected unopposed in 3 committees. Corporator Akash Raj Purohit was elected unopposed as chairperson of the C and D ward committee, while corporator Prakash Darekar was elected unopposed for the R Central and R North ward committee, and corporator Leena Patel-Deherkar for the R South ward committee.In the A, B and E ward committee, Congress corporator Dnyanraj Nikam defeated BJP’s Rohidas Lokhande, securing 7 votes to Lokhande’s 5. Meanwhile, in the P East and P West ward committee, Congress candidate Haider Ali Aslam Sheikh, son of MLA Aslam Shaikh, won with 10 votes, defeating Ajit Raorane, who secured 8 votes.The proceedings for the ward committee elections were conducted by Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde and Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi, who presided over different committees.
