Mumbai to have woman mayor from general category

Mumbai's next mayor will be a woman from the general category, as determined by a lottery conducted by the Maharashtra Urban Development Department on Thursday, an official said. The procedure was, however, opposed by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, who claimed that the rules to arrive at this decision were changed without informing anyone. “The government changed the rules of reservation for the ST category. The requirement of a minimum number of members from the category was altered at the last minute,” said former mayor Kishori Pednekar.
As per the rotational system, Mumbai will get an open-category woman mayor, while Thane and Bhiwandi- Nizampur are expected to have mayor from the SC category.According to the draw, mayoral posts in Ichalkaranji, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Akola, Panvel and Ulhasnagar have been reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.Of these, Chandrapur, Ichalkaranji, Akola and Jalgaon will have women mayors from the OBC category. In total, 17 municipal corporations will have mayors from the open category, of which nine posts are reserved for women. Major civic bodies falling under the open category include Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad (PCMC) and Nagpur.
Maharashtra minister of state for the Urban Development Department Madhuri Misal, who chaired the draw process,  dismissed Sena (UBT)'s claims, stating that they lacked substance. The party wanted the reservation convenient to them, Misal said, adding that process as per the rules was followed.The announcement paves the way for a significant rise in women’s representation in civic leadership across the state