The Maharashtra government will declare the reservation for the Pune Municipal Corporation mayor post on January 22. A lottery system will determine which category gets the position for the next five years.
Lottery Process in Mumbai
Annirudha Jewlikar, Deputy Secretary of the Maharashtra Urban Affairs Ministry, confirmed the details. He stated that the lottery for the mayor post will take place in Mumbai. State minister of Urban Affairs will be present during the draw.
"This process will ensure reservation of posts for all the 29 municipal corporations," Jewlikar explained. The system follows a rotation method that considers previous reservations.
PMC Election Results
The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the largest party in recent PMC elections. They won 119 of the 165 seats. The National Congress Party secured 27 seats, while its alliance partner NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won three seats.
Congress has 15 corporators in the PMC. Their ally Shiv Sena (UBT) managed to win one seat. These results set the stage for the upcoming mayor selection process.
Reservation Rotation System
The PMC mayor serves a two-and-a-half-year term. In the previous term, the post was reserved for women during the first half. The Open category took over for the remaining period.
Former BJP corporator Ujjwal Keskar commented on the reservation pattern. "The reservation is in rotation. The previous reservation, which was in the Open category, is taken into account. Thus, this time it is likely to be reserved either for SC, ST, Women, and OBC categories," he said.
Women's Representation in PMC
Women corporators currently outnumber men in the PMC. Out of 165 seats, 83 are reserved for women. Additionally, women candidates won several unreserved seats in the recent elections.
This strong female representation could influence the reservation outcome. The lottery will determine whether the mayor post goes to women or other reserved categories.
Next Steps After Reservation Declaration
The PMC will convene the first general body meeting fifteen days after the reservation declaration. This meeting will follow the state government's announcement on January 22.
Elections for mayor and deputy mayor will occur after this initial meeting. The process completes the transition following the municipal corporation elections held on January 15.
Results for those elections were declared on January 16. The BJP's strong performance gives them significant influence in the upcoming mayor selection.
The reservation lottery represents a crucial step in Pune's municipal governance. It determines leadership representation for the next five years across Maharashtra's municipal corporations.
