Mumbai: Shiv Sena’s Priya Gurav on Tuesday met BMC chief Ashwini Bhide and demanded the disqualification of Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator and former mayor Vishakha Raut, alleging that the latter had contested the OBC-reserved ward using an invalid Kunbi caste certificate during the 2026 civic polls.In a representation to Bhide, Gurav cited an August 21 order of the Palghar District Caste Verification Committee, cancelling Raut’s OBC certificate, following a complaint alleging that it was invalid. Gurav said she had received a copy of the order via email.Gurav, daughter of former Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar, had contested the 2026 BMC polls against Raut from Ward 191 in Dadar, which was reserved for women from the OBC category, and lost. Raut had submitted an OBC certificate to establish her eligibility for the reserved seat. But last week, the Palghar committee caste scrutiny committee invalidated the OBC certificateRaut, however, had alleged that the decision was taken under political pressure from Shiv Sena. She maintained that she belongs to the OBC category and said her family’s ancestral village is in Palghar district.Raut is a corporator from the politically significant Dadar–Shivaji Park area, and had managed to retain the seat for her party by securing 13,236 votes, edging past Gurav, who polled 13,039 votes. The victory margin stood at a slender 197 votes, making it one of the tightest contests in this round of the BMC elections. This was also among those seats wherein there were only two candidates who were contesting on the seat owing to which any split in voters was unlikely.So far, four BMC corporators have been disqualified over invalid caste validity certificates: Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Deepak Sawant from Ward 111 in Bhandup, AIMIM’s Sameer Ramzan Patel from Ward 137 in Govandi, AIMIM’s Roshan Shaikh from Ward 138, and NCP’s Bushra Nadeem Malik from Ward 170 in Kurla East. All four were elected from reserved-category seats, and their memberships were terminated after the respective district caste scrutiny committees invalidated their certificates. Several of the corporators have challenged the decisions in court.
