Bhilwara: Jaswant Kanwar, a first-time councillor and BJP worker, was elected unopposed as the first woman mayor of Bhilwara Municipal Corporation Thursday after independent councillor Santosh Kanwar withdrew her nomination.The 38-year-old BJP candidate filed her nomination Wednesday. No Congress candidate had filed a nomination for the mayoral election.Bhilwara Municipal Corporation has 70 wards, of which the BJP won 45, independents 15 and Congress 10.Santosh Kanwar, an independent councillor from Ward 10 who was earlier associated with the BJP, had also filed her nomination. She, however, Thursday withdrew her nomination, paving the way for Jaswant Kanwar’s unopposed election.After her election, Jaswant Kanwar said the BJP had allowed an ordinary worker like her to contest for mayor. She said she would focus on implementing welfare schemes of the Centre and state govts at the ground level and work towards women’s empowerment.Kanwar was born in Lachhuda village in Bhilwara district’s Asind assembly constituency and is married into a family in Bhilwara. She holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in History. She contested the civic election from Ward 9 on a BJP ticket and defeated Khushbu Sharma by 2,165 votes.BJP district president Prashant Mewara thanked Santosh Kanwar for withdrawing her nomination. He said Santosh had contested the councillor election as an independent after not receiving a BJP ticket and had won from Ward 10.
