Congress emerges a little ahead of BJP in Maharashtra civic polls

Maharashtra's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress bagged the presidentship of eight municipal councils of the total 19 civic bodies as results were announced here on Monday.

While the opposition Nationalist Congress Party secured the presidentship of one municipal council, independents and smaller parties bagged two but ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena scored a zero.

The third phase of the ongoing keenly contested civic body elections in Maharashtra were held Sunday in Aurangabad and Bhandara (four councils in each), Nanded (nine councils and two Nagar Panchayats), and Gadchiroli (two).

However, in terms of number of seats,the Congress bagged 122 against the BJP's tally of 116 and emerged the biggest gainer - from the total 409 seats - while election for one municipal council seat in Gadchiroli will be held on January 22, 2017, said a State Election Commission spokesperson.

The NCP came third with 78 seats in its kitty, followed by Shiv Sena in the third position with 46.

Among the smaller parties, the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) bagged five seats - two in Aurangabad district's Kannad Municipal Council, two in Ardhapur Nagar Parishad and one in Mahoor Nagar Parishad, both falling in Nanded.

Independents took a significant chunk of 28 seats, including 17 in various councils in Bhandara, seven in Nanded, three in Gadchiroli and one in Aurangabad.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party also scored two seats - one each in Dharmabad and Mudkhed Municipal Councils, both in Nanded district and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party was content with one seat in Dharmabad Municipal Council.

Local coalition groups bagged five seats in Aurangabad's Kannad Municipal Council, Lokbharati Party secured five in Nanded's Biloli Municipal Council, and state-level party Rashtriya Samaj Paksha managed two - one seat each in Nanded and Gadchiroli.

Welcoming the mandate, State Congress president Ashok Chavan termed it as "winds of change despite the moneypower and misuse of official machinery by the ruling BJP".

He exuded confidence that with this record, the Congress would perform exceedingly well in the other upcoming civic elections in the state over the next few weeks.

--IANS

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