Mumbai, March 10: Shiv Sena’s Shubha Raul was today elected Mumbai’s mayor.

The ayurvedic doctor, who polled 117 votes, defeated Congress’s Sheetal Mhatre by seven votes. BJP’s Vidya Thakur was elected deputy mayor.

The post was reserved for an OBC woman candidate.

True to the Sena tradition of handing power to ordinary party workers, Raul is a middle-class resident of Dahisar in the western suburbs. She lives with husband Umesh, and daughters Tanvi, 15, and Mayuri, 13.

In the February 1 civic polls, the Shiv Sena proved that irrespective of its political fortunes in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, it continued to maintain its stranglehold in Mumbai. It emerged the largest single party with 83 seats, followed by the Congress with 71, BJP with 28 and the NCP with 14 seats.

In her first address to the civic house, an elated Raul said providing better basic amenities to Mumbai’s residents would be her agenda with special focus on improving drinking water supply, providing better roads, reducing property tax rates and cleanliness.

She reiterated the Sena stand that Mumbai had always got a raw deal from the Centre in terms of development despite the city contributing 44 per cent of the revenue.

“The Centre looks upon the city as the proverbial hen-laying golden eggs. Mumbai alone accounts for 44 per cent of revenue, but the Central government does not give a single rupee for basic amenities in the city,” she said.

Although the mayor has very little administrative powers, she can play a crucial role in building pressure on the administrative set-up.