BJP wins big in Maha polls

The BJP on Thursday scored a resounding victory in the Maharashtra civil polls emerging as the largest party in eight of the 10 municipal corporations while finishing a close second to bellicose ally Shiv Sena in the latter's Mumbai bastion.

Making giant strides in the Shiv Sena citadel of Mumbai, BJP won 82 seats in the fiercely fought BMC polls, just two less than the estranged saffron ally, but both were well short of the magic figure of 114 needed to control the civic body.

The hung verdict will reset the political calculations as no party is in the position to rule the country’s richest civic body on its own and alliance seems inevitable.

However, it is not yet clear whether the saffron allies, which share power both in Maharashtra and at the Centre, will get back together or new combinations will emerge.

AIMIM, which had made its maiden entry into the Maharashtra Assembly with two seats in the last polls, won two seats on debut in the BMC elections, Samajwadi Party six, Akhil Bhartiya Sena one and Independents four.

Elections to the cashrich BMC and nine other civic bodies in the state, which had virtually turned into a battle of prestige for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, heading the state’s first BJP-led government, and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, were held on February 21.