Husbands of women mayors of Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar criticised as 'super mayors'

Women have been elected mayors of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation and the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation. However, it is being said that in both places it has come to light that their husbands are running the corporations' affairs. A question is now being asked whether the appeal made by the Centre and the state governments for women's empowerment has not reached these two civic bodies.

According to the information received, the husbands of these women mayors are seen in the mayors' chambers most of the time. It is alleged that they sit in the anteroom of the mayor's office, give instructions to senior officials and contractors, and take important decisions. As a result, the husbands of both mayors are being criticised as "super mayors".

Elections to both corporations were held after a long gap. Because of reservation, women got the chance to hold the post of mayor, the city's first citizen, in both places. In Kalyan-Dombivli, Advocate Harshali Yogesh Chaudhari became mayor, while in Ulhasnagar, Advocate Ashwini Kamlesh Nikam became mayor.

In Ulhasnagar, Mayor Ashwini Nikam's husband Kamlesh Nikam appears to be paying more attention to advancing politically than she does. Kamlesh Nikam alleged that BJP state president Ravindra Chavan is a spy of the Manchekar gang. He also openly created a ruckus outside the chamber of BJP corporator Neeta Narayan Punjabi at the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation headquarters. For a while, the headquarters seemed like a political battlefield.

Even so, the civic administration remained quiet because Kamlesh Nikam is the husband of Mayor Ashwini Nikam. Had an ordinary person created such a ruckus, Ulhasnagar's security department would have filed a case against that person, the criticism says. There is also criticism that, as Kamlesh Nikam is a "super mayor", his ego is bound to prevail.

In Kalyan-Dombivli, Mayor Harshali Chaudhari's husband Yogesh Chaudhari also sits in the mayor's office all day, like a super mayor. From the time the mayor arrives at the corporation until she goes home, he sits in the mayor's office and the adjoining chamber. Though Yogesh Chaudhari is not as aggressive as Kamlesh Nikam, it has also come to light that he handles almost all of Harshali Chaudhari's government and administrative work.

Ordinary citizens must take prior permission to meet the mayor. But the mayors' husbands in both corporations need no one's permission. When the mayor is a woman, everyone feels that her husband is the super mayor. A question is being asked why political parties that talk of women's empowerment and elevate women to high posts do not consider that husbands take on the entire responsibility of women corporators.

Both mayors are highly educated, hold law degrees and are lawyers. They are capable of taking decisions and need no adviser. In that case, a question is being raised why their husbands spend more time than the mayors in the mayor's chamber holding meetings with officials and contractors. Under government rules, family members of officials holding positions of power cannot guide officials or interfere in administrative work.