Both candidates of Congress — Mukta Kokadde and Kunda Raut — got elected as President and Vice-President respectively in the elections held on Monday
Nagpur: Congress, which is leading the ruling alliance in Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP) retained its dominance as both its candidates — Mukta Kokadde and Kunda Raut — got elected as President and Vice-President respectively in the elections held on Monday.
Though the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lacked adequate numbers, fielded its candidates for both the posts, it withdrew and supported Congress rebels. The only thing that was a worrying factor for the ruling alliance was rebellion by three members of Congress and one member of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
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Monday 10 Feb. 2025
The 58-member ZP house has more than half members belonging to Congress. Thus, Congress is enjoying the single-handed majority in ZP. It leads the ruling alliance that comprises eight members of NCP, Gondwana Gantantra Party, Shetkari Kamgar Paksha, and Independent. Given the situation, it was a foregone conclusion that Congress would win both the posts of ZP President and Vice-President. Rashmi Barve’s tenure as ZP chief came to an end and the new President was to be elected. For this term, the post of ZP President was reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST). Congress fielded Mukta Kokadde, a teacher who got elected as ZP member from Patansaongi circle, for the post of President.
Congress fielded Kunda Raut, second-term ZP member and daughter of Shyamdev Raut who was ZP President years ago, for the post of Vice President. It was expected to be smooth sailing for both. However, three of Congress’ ZP members namely Nana Kambhale, Pritam Kaware and Megha Mankar resorted to rebellion. BJP, though having only 14 members, fielded Neeta Walke for the post of President and Kailas Barbate for the post of Vice-President, so that the elections did not remain uncontested. However, later, BJP withdrew them from the fray. Instead, BJP decided to support Congress rebels Pritam Kaware and Nana Kambhale for the post of President and Vice President respectively.
Kokadde polled 39 votes and secured a comfortable victory, but her votes did not include the votes of three Congress rebels. Kunda Raut, with 38 votes, also sailed smoothly and won the contest for the post of Vice-President. However, Raut did not get votes of three Congress rebels as well as one rebel from NCP.
As soon as the election results were out, the workers of the ruling alliance started celebrating outside the ZP building. Sunil Kedar, former minister; Rajendra Mulak, District President of Congress party; Rameshchandra Bang, former minister and senior leader of NCP; Rashmi Barve, outgoing ZP President; Nana Gawande, Suresh Bhoyar, Manohar Kumbhare, Shanta Kumre and others greeted the newly elected ZP chief Kokadde and deputy Raut by offering bouquet and sweets to them in the chamber of ZP President.
