Gaya deputy mayor loses confidence vote

GAYA: Controversial Gaya deputy mayor Akhauri Onkar Nath Srivastava alias Mohan Srivastava, who hit headlines following his arrest from a Patna hotel on gang rape charge, on Friday lost the confidence vote by a margin of 21 votes in Gaya municipal body.
Forty-six of the 54 councillors participated in the no confidence vote held in the municipal corporation building on Friday. Thirty two of 46 corporators voted against the deputy mayor, three votes were cancelled and councillor Ibrar Ahmad alias Bhola Mian, representing ward no.25, was not present in the process as he was declared absconder in a real estate agent murder case. The deputy mayor got only 11 votes in his favour.
Mayor Soni Kumari did not participate in the process as she was the presiding officer.
She said this is the second time when Srivastava lost the confidence vote. Earlier, on June 20, 2014, majority of the municipal corporators voted against him. Srivastava, subsequently, challenged the no confidence motion passed against him in Patna high court on the ground that the motion was passed in his absence as he was lodged in Beur jail in connection with a gang rape case at the time of voting and as such he was deprived of his right to defend himself during the motion.