Senior bureaucrat Bhushan Gagrani is new Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to appoint Bhushan Gagrani as the new Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Senior bureaucrat Gagrani, a 1990-batch IAS officer, has served as the state urban development department secretary and principal secretary to Uddhav Thackeray during his Chief Ministerial tenure. Gagrani also held the post of Director General of the Information and Public Relations Department (DGIPR).

The ECI order further asked that Saurabh Rao and Kailash Shinde to be apponited as the civic chiefs of Thane and Navi Mumbai, respectively.

The Commission has further directed that the aforementioned three officers shall not hold any additional charge outside their respective Corporation, the order stated further.

It is noteworthy that such an order was released ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the country.Maharashtra will vote in five phases for 48 constituencies in the upcoming general elections. Vote counting will take place on June 4.