Cong sweeps Nanded civic polls, NCP sinks
BIG WIN FOR CHAVAN BJP’S victory run in Maharashtra civil polls ends, bags six seats in crucial elections, Sena manages only one
MUMBAI: With 69 seats in its kitty, the Congress registered a sweeping victory in the Nanded-waghala municipal corporation elections, the home turf of state party chief Ashok Chavan.
The BJP bagged six seats while the Shiv Sena won one seat and the NCP and All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) drew a blank.
The polls, which registered 64.82% voting, were fought closely between the Congress and NCP. Although the results were unexpected for the ruling BJP, it is more shocking for the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, which had 14 and 10 sitting corporators respectively.
Chavan said people voted in favour of development. “The BJP got candidates without verifying their credentials. This has cost them dearly,” he said.
The municipal corporation of Nanded, home turf of state Congress chief and former chief minister Chavan, has been ruled by the Congress, since it came into existence two decades ago. Chavan had put his might in the polls ensuring a three-way fight and avoiding a split in minority votes. The Congress has 41 members in the outgoing civic body that has a total of 81 seats, followed by 14 Sena corporators, 11 of AIMIM and NCP’S 10.
The campaign for the polls witnessed a bitter war of words between Congress, BJP and Sena. The BJP had won 12 of the 16 civic bodies for which polls were held this year, expanding its footprint over the state’s urban areas at the cost of the Opposition and its ally, the Shiv Sena. But its victory run stopped in Nanded.
The BJP won by-polls in Bhandup, Koregaon Park, Pune and Kolhapur held on Wednesday. BJP’S Jagruti Patil defeated Sena’s Meenakshi Patil in Bhandup by a vote margin of 4,892 while Himali Kamble defeated NCP’S Dhananjay Gaikwad in Pune by 4,483 votes. The BJP had joined hands with Republican Party of India in Pune. In Kolhapur, BJP’S Ratnesh Shirolkar was declared the winner.