Civic polls: BJP makes inroads in semi-urban, rural Maha

The ruling BJP has emerged as the net gainer in the first two rounds of civic polls across Maharashtra as it made inroads into semi-urban and rural areas, giving leverage to the party to counter the opposition onslaught over the demonetisation.
As the counting of votes for the second phase of polls concluded last evening, BJP's tally in two rounds went up to 974 seats in municipal council and nagar panchayats, dealing a grim blow to Congress and NCP which had for long held sway in rural and interior parts of the state.
The decision to hold direct elections to the post of municipal council presidents brought handsome gains to the BJP which secured 56 positions.

In the first phase, BJP put up an impressive show winning 893 council and nagar panchayat seats while it finished slightly behind the NCP with 81 seats in the second round.
The NCP, which won 615 seats in the first phase, bettered its tally over the rival in the next round with 93 seats while the Congress, which won 727 seats in the first phase bagged 45 seats.
Shiv Sena, the bickering partner in the ruling alliace, pocketed 529 and 23 seats respectively in two rounds.

The polling to elect 324 councillors and 14 municipal council presidents in Latur and Pune districts was held on Wednesday.

The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena drew a blank in all seats it contested.
The outcome is also seen as a shot in the arm for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who led the campaign from the front.
According to political observers, BJP's success is more prominent in the Vidarbha region, once a stronghold of Congress.
Fadnavis hails from Nagpur and that could be one of the reasons for BJP's sterling performance in the region, they said.
Difficulties caused by demonetisation appear not to have gone against the BJP because people still feel it will yield positive results like eradication of black money at the end of the day, they said.

Hailing the results, BJP state president Raosaheb Danve said, "Like in the first phase, the results of the second phase also showed that people have displayed their faith in PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation decision."
The outcome shows that Congress and NCP, which received a
drubbing in the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls in 2014, are yet to regain the trust of large sections of people, analysts say.
Some of them, however, pointed out that these parties, who had ruled the state for long, recovered some of the lost ground, as compared to Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, Congress and NCP were badly hit by the "Modi wave", getting only 42 and 41 seats respectively, after ruling the state for 15 years.

Congress leaders admit that the results of the civic polls fell short of their expectation.
"We thought that Maratha agitation and demonetisation would work against BJP. However, it may take some more time for the ill-effects of demonetisation to be felt," Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.
Both Congress and NCP have alleged that BJP's success in the polls was due to misuse of money and administrative machinery.
"Old scrapped notes were distributed to get votes. Bundles of cash recovered from BJP legislators and ministers is enough indication. Even Shiv Sena, the BJP's ally in government, has made this allegation," Congress Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam and NCP spokesman Nawab Malik alleged.

However, BJP has vehemently refuted such allegations, crediting the victory to organisational skills and good governance at the Centre and the state.
"Our success is due to the meticulous organisational planning and leadership of Devendra Fadnavis. He led from the front and addressed election meetings in most parts of the state," said Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.
Congress and NCP leaders, on the other hand, restricted themselves to particular districts, say observers.
Congress leaders admit that the results is a wake up call to the party to get its act together at the taluka level and strengthen its grassroots base.
They say the party has got more seats at the nagar panchayat level, which means the rural population was upset with the present state government.

The third phase of elections for 20 municipal councils and two nagar panchayats will be held on December 18. On January 8, 2017, the elections for 11 municipal councils will be held. Besides, the elections for 50 gram panchayats in different districts will be held on December 28.