Navi Mumbai mayor got his caste papers illegally: Opposition

Over two weeks after the first scheduled election for the postof Navi Mumbai's mayor fell through, the rescheduled election was conducted yesterday. NCP corporator Sagar Naik, the incumbent mayor, was re-elected to the post.

The elections were aborted midway on November 9, when it emerged that none of the corporators contesting for the post had submitted all the necessary documents.

Shadow over win: Corporators of the NCP celebrate after Mayor Sagar Naik was re-elected to the post. Members of the opposition, however, are busy crying foul

Neither Naik, nor his fellow candidates had submitted their respective caste validity certificates, one of the mandatory documents.

The election process was underway on November 9, when the returning officer learnt that not a single candidate had submitted the caste validity certificate to the municipal secretary, Chitra Baviskar, when nominations were being filed. He cancelled the election. Some members of the Opposition, however, have challenged that Naik bent some rules to get his hands on the certificate.

A candidate from the Shiv Sena even alleged that Baviskar had deliberately misplaced his caste validity certificate, in complicity with the ruling NCP, to cut him out of the elections, even though he had submitted the document.

The re-election was held yesterday, all the candidates across political parties having filed their nominations along with their caste validity certificates a few days back.

Naik won the election with 58 votes, while Congress candidate Amit Patil and Shiv Sena candidate Satish Ramane received 13 and 15 votes respectively.

NCP has a majority in the NMMC, with 58 corporators in the 89-member body.

After the victory, Naik yesterday said, "Due to some technical issues the election on November 9 had to be cancelled. However, we have won the election today thanks to the support of our NCP corporators. I look forward to the rapid progress of Navi Mumbai in next two-and-half years."

Meanwhile, Ramane has filed a complaint with the returning officer claiming that the caste validity certificate submitted by Naik was obtained by illegal means. "We have found that Naik has obtained his caste validity certificate by violating rules and guidelines issued by the state government and the Supreme Court.

I request the returning officer to invalidate Mayor Sagar Naik's election," said Ramane in the complaint.u00a0

58u00a0The number of corporators the NCP has in the 89-member body of the NMMC