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The upcoming by-election in ward number 160 at Kurla on Sunday will be extremely crucial for the ruling saffron combine and the Opposition.
The seat fell vacant following the death of Shiv Sena corporator Shantaram Naik last year. Naiks son,Kamlakar,will be contesting the elections from the seat and is expecting a win riding a sympathy wave.
Kamlakar will face stiff competition from the Maharashtra Navnirman Senas Manali Lad,wife of sitting corporator Rajendra Lad. Although Congress and Nationalist Congress Party had fielded separate candidates for the civic elections in 2007 in this ward,this time only the latters candidate-Sadanand Thorat will be contesting.
Six other independent candidates will also be fighting the elections. The result will be declared on Monday.
From a total of 227 seats,the ruling saffron combine,Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party has 110 seats while the Congress- Nationalist Congress Party and the MNS have 108 seats.
Due to disqualification over caste certificate,the other seats lie vacant awaiting a ruling from the Bombay High Court.
Last year,the court had ruled in favour of the second winning candidate- Jagdish Kutty from Congress as a corporator in place of disqualified Sena corporator Subhash Kanta Sawant from Chakala,Sahar airport.
However,Sena-BJP opposed the move,demanding a re-election. The declaration had resulted in a seats loss for the ruling party and brought the opposition closer to majority.
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