Municipal secretary Ramdas Jagtap said 15 nominations had been received for elections to eight vacant posts of the standing committee. The election scheduled for February 19, holds much importance as it puts on test the strength of the various parties in the PMC in the run-up to the mayoral elections later in March.

On hearing the names of the PVA's official candidates Arun Dhimdhime, Meenakshi Makhamble and Anees Sundke, PVA corporator Shiva Mantri went into a rage and exclaimed as to how could the party leader (referring to Suresh Kalmadi) not include his name. ``He had promised me,'' he cried and filed his nomination which was proposed and seconded by Congressmen Ramesh Khanna and Ankush Kakade.

Tense moments prevailed in the PVA camp with Shyam Mankar and others trying to pacify Mantri. Leader of the House and senior PVA leader Chandrakant Chhajed however categorically told reporters that Mantri had not rebelled as he had filed another nomination form which had PVA corporators as proposers and seconders. We telephoned Kalmadi in Delhi who told us to file another form, Chhajed said.

The Congress too saw Nitin Jagtap and Ajit Darekar rebelling against the official candidates Suresh Shevale, Dilip Tupe and Vilas Wadekar while Sena's Mandakini Khule rebelled against the official candidate Uttam Bhelke. The BJP has fielded Anil Shirole as its candidate while the Republican Party of India corporators Bhaganbhai Jadhav, Shobha Sawant and Navnath Kamble filed their nominations.