Ahmedabad: In May, Ahmedabad will see a new mayor being named. The city has had an interesting history around this post. In the 76 years since the formation of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in 1950, 36 mayors have served the city. The person to serve on the post the longest was Chinubhai Chimanlal Sheth — for a total of 3,504 days or six years, one month and 17 days over three tenures. Incidentally, Sheth was also Ahmedabad’s first mayor. According to AMC’s website, Chinubhai Chimanlal Sheth, who was the head of Ahmedabad Municipality, became the first mayor after the civic body became a corporation. “He served as mayor from July 1, 1950, to Aug 18, 1956,” the website says. “He then served a second term from May 4, 1957, to Sept 19, 1958, for a total of one year, five months and 15 days. He served a third term as mayor from May 4, 1959, to May 4, 1961, for two years.” The second longest-serving mayor was Krishnavadan Shankarlal Joshi who was on the post for a total of 1,991 days over three terms. Joshi first assumed office as mayor on Jan 11, 1972, and served until Feb 25, 1974 (two years, one month and 14 days or 776 days). Incidentally, his second term on the post was the shortest in AMC’s history – just 61 days, from Jan 10, 1976, to March 11 that year. According to the AMC portal, Joshi’s third term lasted three years, one month and 27 days, from May 10, 1977, to July 7, 1980. An AMC official said, “Earlier, there was no limit on the tenure period. A person elected as a councillor could serve as mayor for five years. From 1991-2000, when a mayor could serve one- or two-year terms, Ahmedabad had seven mayors. When Congress came to power in 2000, Himmatsinh Patel was elected mayor and served from Oct 16, 2000, to April 15, 2003, followed by Anisabegam Mirza (April 16, 2003- Oct 15, 2005). From 2005 to 2010, when the BJP was in power, Amit Shah was mayor for the first two and a half years and Kanaji Thakor for the remaining two and a half years. The state govt then introduced 50% reservation for women, reserving the position for women for two and a half years.”As a result, Asit Vora was elected mayor from Oct 31, 2010, to April 30, 2013, followed by Minakshi Patel till Dec 14, 2015. Gautam Shah was mayor from April 14, 2015, to Jan 14, 2018, with Bijal Patel holding the post till Dec 13, 2020.
