Bhushan Gagrani, a senior IAS officer, has been selected as the new Mumbai municipal commissioner. The Election Commission of India asked Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led to appoint Gagrani as the new commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Furthermore, senior bureaucrats Saurabh Rao and Kailash Shinde have been appointed as the new civic commissioners for adjoining Thane and Navi Mumbai, respectively.
Bhushan Gagrani is set to replace Iqbal Singh Chahal, who has been moved out of the post of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner on EC orders. Gagrani had been serving as additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) till now.
The Election Commission of India has directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that the three officers do not hold any additional charge outside their respective corporations.
After announcing the dates of the Lok Sabha election 2024, the Election Commission of India ordered the transfer of Chahal. Notably, Iqbal Chahal was also serving as the BMC administrator, and civic commissioners, additional/deputy municipal commissioners who have served more than three years in the present position and are posted in their home district in Maharashtra.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Maharashtra
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats. In Maharashtra, there will be five phases of voting for the same in the upcoming general assembly poll season. The counting votes, nationwide will take place on 4 June.
The Election Commission of India announced the Lok Sabha Election dates on March 16th. The elections will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19th and ending on June 1st.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 23 out of 25 contested seats, whereas the then undivided Shiv Sena had won 18 out of 23 contested seats.
Meanwhile, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that the names of the candidates for Maha Vikas Aghadi will be announced in a day or two.
The Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) have not yet finalized the seat-sharing arrangement. MVA constituent Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar has made his displeasure public alleging that the UBT sena and NCP (S Pawar) are not hearing out the VBA and its demands.
Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut is certain that the INDIA bloc will face a tough challenge from the BJP-led NDA.
Bhushan Gagrani is Known to keep a low profile
Gagrani has managed to put the big-ticket projects of all the chief ministers he has worked with on track without ruffling feathers in political circles.
With an all-India third rank, Gagrani was the first IAS officer to have cleared the examination in Marathi language. A postgraduate from Kolhapur’s Shivaji University, he also holds an LLB and MBA degree from the University of Birmingham. He has a PhD in management from Mumbai University.
Gagrani has held positions in tourism, medical education, public health department, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Urban Development department.
