Team Herald
PONDA: Bharatiya Janata Party-backed councillor Vishwanath Dalvi was on Thursday elected unopposed as chairperson of Ponda Municipal Council (PMC).
Dalvi will be officially declared as PMC chairperson during the election scheduled on August 28.
A straight fight between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was expected for the hot seat. However, the MGP, which backed seven councillors, preferred not to file nomination for the post, following which Dalvi was elected unopposed.
After accepting Dalvi’s nomination form, Municipal Engineer Uday Desai informed media persons that only one nomination was filed, which led to Dalvi being elected unopposed as chairman. However, he would be officially declared as chairperson at the election scheduled on August 28.
After being elected unopposed to the post, Dalvi said he would resign as deputy chairperson soon and thanked the councillors including Ritesh Naik for supporting him.
Congratulating Dalvi, Cooperation Minister Govind Gaude said, “With the support of all councillors development work will be carried out in Ponda.”
Gaude said, “With Dalvi being elected unopposed to the chairperson’s post it appears there is no opposition to the BJP in the Ponda municipality.
Rumours that Ritesh would be made the PMC chairperson were put to rest with Dalvi getting elected unopposed.
Sources said Ritesh would be considered for the post in near future as the present council tenure ends after three years.
It may be recalled that the chairperson’s post was vacant after the resignation of Venktesh Naik on August 11.
