BJP's sting in Maharashtra Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections.
State Bureau, Mumbai. In Maharashtra, BJP has again proved its strength by making its city president win at 129 places. Among BJP's allies, 57 from Shiv Sena and 37 from NCP can become city presidents. In the opposition alliance Mahavikas Aghadi, Congress has got its city presidents from 30 places.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) seem to be getting only 10 posts of city president each. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called it the victory of 'Team BJP'. In the first phase of local body elections in Maharashtra, election results for 246 Municipal Councils and 42 Nagar Panchayats were declared on Sunday. Elections for Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats were held on December 2 and 20.
In the election results, BJP appears to be far ahead of its allies and opponents. While this seems to be increasing his statewide strength, it has also once again confirmed the political skills of Chief Minister Fadnavis. Some city presidents of BJP were elected unopposed in the beginning itself.
BJP has been successful in getting more than double the number of city presidents than its ally Shiv Sena and three times more than NCP, while Congress has lagged far behind. Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) has almost been wiped out. This once again confirms the influence of Deputy Chief Minister Shinde's Shiv Sena.
Second Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has also been successful in giving a strong defeat to his uncle Sharad Pawar. The flag of his party NCP has been hoisted at 37 places including his hometown Baramati. Cousin sister Supriya Sule became MP by defeating his wife in the Lok Sabha elections from Baramati.
According to ANI, elections were held for 17 local bodies in Pune and Mahavikas Aghadi could not even open its account. These election results have also given a glimpse of the possible results of the elections to be held in 29 municipal corporations of the state including Mumbai, Thane, which are going to be held on January 15.
The last hope of Shiv Sena (UBT) rests on Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has also forgotten his years-long rift with his cousin Raj Thackeray to win the BMC elections. Shiv Sena (Undivided) has been in control of BMC for almost 30 years.
Opposition accepts defeat, blames EVM
According to Prater, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) accepted defeat in the municipal councils and nagar panchayat elections and accused the Election Commission of helping the ruling Mahayuti win. The opposition also blamed the defeat on the power of money and EVMs.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, BJP has set the machines in the same way as it happened in the assembly elections. There was a hailstorm of money and no one could cope with it. This is the victory of the “terror of power”.