India, Feb. 19 -- Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Shrinath Bhimale is set to become the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The ruling BJP, which holds a comfortable majority in the civic body, on Wednesday declared Bhimale as its candidate for the post.

The 16-member committee was constituted last week, with seats allocated according to party strength: BJP (13), Nationalist Congress Party (2) and Congress (1). The election is scheduled for February 24. Given the BJP's majority, Bhimale's appointment is expected to be a formality.

A senior party leader, Bhimale had served as Leader of the House in the previous term. He and Ganesh Bidkar were earlier contenders for the Mayor's post. ...