As the ruling BJP emerged as a clear winner in the municipal council polls–both in terms of the number of seats won and the number of the civic bodies in which it installed its presidents, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday expressed confidence that his party would emerge as the number one party in the forthcoming Municipal Corporation and Zilla Parishad polls in the state.
Addressing a victory rally, Fadnavis said: “We ( the BJP) have emerged as the number one party in the municipal Council polls… I am confident that we will emerge as the number one party in the forthcoming municipal corporation and Zilla Parishad polls as well”.
Fadnavis said that the BJP’s victory in the municipal council polls were reflection of the fact that the people continued to repose confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the sincere efforts being made by his Government to fulfill its poll promises and also the aspirations of the people in the State.
Meanwhile, the final tally of the first phase of the municipal council and Nagar Panchayat poll results pegged the BJP as the clear winner among the four major political parties in the State.
Of the total 3727 local body seats for which the elections were held on Sunday, the BJP won as many 893 seats, while the Opposition won as many as 727 seats. The NCP and Shiv Sena won 615 and 529 seats respectively.
In the civic body presidential polls held for the first time in the state, the BJP emerged on the top by installing its presidents in many as 51 municipal councils out of the total 147 municipal councils. The Shiv Sena won presidential polls in as many as 25 municipal councils, followed by Congress in 23 municipal councils and NCP in 18 civic bodies.
However, a piquant situation has arisen in several municipal councils where the BJP has won the presidential polls. For, in these civic bodies, other political parties are in majority. In these civic bodies, the BJP presidents will have a tough in managing the affairs in these civic bodies.
In a related development, MNS chief Raj Thackeray debunked the BJP’s claim that its victory in the municipal council was an approval of the Narendr Modi government’s decision to demonetize Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, by dubbing the ruling party’s performance as the “victory of old notes and not of the note ban”.
“Ha notabandicha vijay nasun junya notancha ahe (This is the victory of old notes and not of the note ban),” Raj said.
