AURANGABAD, April 21: For the second time, the mayor's chair of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will be graced by a lady, with 28-year-old Shalini Sitaram Gunjale of the Shiv Sena being elected as the ninth mayor on Monday.She defeated the Congress-led front candidate, Sajeeda Begum, by a margin of 31 votes in the 82-member House. Dr Bhagwat Karad of the Bharatiya Janata Party was elected deputy mayor, bagging 55 votes against Congress candidate Afsar Khan's 21 votes. Two members abstained from voting.Gunjale has been a Sena member since 1986, though this is her first term in the AMC. Daughter of a doctor, Gunjale, however, did not continue her education after taking the Secondary School Certificate examination.The race within the Sena for a mayoral nominee was not entirely smooth, with the high- profile Maya Ladwani, a university student, being tipped for the post. However, her attempts were frustrated when her nomination forms were rejected during scrutiny.The Sena leaders were not askeen on backing Ladwani, with her legal battle proving to be a liability. However, this contrasts with the Sena's efforts to get Subhash Kajwa installed as mayor on the last occasion despite taking the fight to the SC. Kajwa, though, finally lost in his contest with apex court.Meanwhile, for Karad, being elected deputy mayor was a long-cherished dream come true. He had lost the election to the same post last year when the Sena fielded a candidate against him.A paediatric surgeon with an established practice, Dr Karad took the plunge into politics as an independent candidate and later joined the BJP. He belongs to the Vanjari community.The elections have also brought to the fore the growing divide within the Congress-led front. The Sena-BJP combine has a strength of 48 members in the House but still managed to bag as many as 53 votes for the mayor's post and 55 for the deputy mayor.
