Vishakha Raut Faces BMC Disqualification as Caste Panel Rejects OBC Certificate
Former Mumbai Mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) senior corporator Vishakha Raut is set to lose her Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seat representing Ward 191 in Dadar after the Palghar Caste Scrutiny Committee rejected her Other Backward Class (OBC) certificate.
The committee cancelled Raut's OBC certificate on Friday following a complaint questioning its validity. The official order is expected to reach the BMC by Monday, setting the stage for formal administrative action regarding her post as corporator.
Raut represents the politically crucial Dadar–Shivaji Park area, having won the OBC-reserved Ward 191 seat in a tightly contested election. She secured 13,236 votes to defeat her sole opponent, Priya Sarvankar, daughter of former MLA Sada Sarvankar, by a narrow margin of 197 votes. The two-candidate race was widely observed as one of the closest contests in the civic elections due to the lack of vote-splitting.
Responding to the scrutiny committee's decision, Raut rejected the challenge against her OBC status and stated that her family’s ancestral village is located in Palghar district. Speaking to media persons, she announced plans to appeal the order before the Konkan Bhavan Commissioner within the designated three-month window. She added that she would evaluate approaching the court depending on the outcome of that appeal.
Raut is among several civic representatives to face action over caste credentials. Four other BMC corporators have already faced disqualification after district scrutiny committees invalidated the caste certificates used to contest reserved seats.
Those disqualified include Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Deepak Sawant from Ward 111 in Bhandup, AIMIM corporators Sameer Ramzan Patel from Ward 137 in Govandi and Roshan Shaikh from Ward 138, as well as NCP corporator Bushra Nadeem Malik from Ward 170 in Kurla East. Several of these disqualified representatives have since moved the courts to challenge their orders.
