The ruling BJP on Monday captured power in the Dhule Municipal Corporation (DMC), while its alliance partner Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party in the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation (AMC).
Scoring a clear electoral victory over the ruling Shiv Sena and all Opposition parties, the BJP walked away with 50 out of the total 74 seats in the DMC. All other parties did not cross the single digit figure in the polls.
While the NCP and Congress won nine and six seats respectively, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) four seats. Samajwadi Party bagged two seats, while the BSP, Samajwadi Party and Loksangram Party won one seat each. An independent secured one seat.
However, in the 68-member AMC, the Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party winning 24 seats, followed the NCP and BJP which won 18 and 14 seats respectively, The Congress bagged five seats, while the BSP won four seats. Samajwadi secured one seats, while two independents romped home in the elections.
Available pointers said that the Shiv Sena might come to power in AMC in the alliance with the BJP.
Meanwhile, the BJP captured power in Shendurani Nagar Panchayat in Jalgaon district, Loha Municipal council in Nanded district and Mouda Nagar Panchayat in Nagpur district. The Shiv Sena came to power in Ner Nebapur in Yavatmal district, while the Congress captured power in Bramhapuri Municipal Council in Chandrapur district. Washim Nagar Vikas Agadi, a local outfit, captured power in Risod Municipal Council in Washim district,
The elections to the two municipal corporations and six smaller local bodies were held on Sunday. The counting of votes took place on Monday.
The BJP’s success in DMC is in continuation of victories it had scored in the municipal corporations of Jalgaon in north Maharashtra and Sangli in western Maharashtra in August this year.
In that election, the BJP had virtually swept the Jalgaon Municipal Corporation (JMC) polls by winning as many as 57 seats out of a total 75 seats and decimated hitherto-influential political outfit led by former minister and local Sureshdada Jain who controlled Jalgaon civic body for the last three and a half decades.
In the 78-member Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation (SMKMC) polls,the BJP secured a majority of its own by winning 41 seats as against 20 seats won by the Congress and 15 by the NCP.
Walking away with 57 out of the total 75 seats in the JMC, the BJP established supremacy over all the political parties. Its principal rival Shiv Sena managed to win just 15 seats in the JMC polls.
The AIMIM, which had contested the JMC polls for the first time, bagged three seats. Significantly enough, the Congress and NCP drew a blank in the polls.