The Congress captured power in the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) and emerged as the single-largest party in the Malegaon Municipal Commission (MMC) on Friday, while the BJP gained total control over the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) in the first-ever general elections to the civic body.
In what came as a boost to the beleaguered Sonia Gandhi-led party in the Muslim-dominated powerloom towns of Bhiwandi and Malegaon, the Congress romped home comfortably in the BNMC polls by winning 47 seats in the 90-member civic body, while it appeared poised to take over the reins of the MMC in alliance with the NCP. The Congress and NCP have won 28 and 20 seats respectively in the 84-member MMC.
The BJP emerged a clear winner in the PMC elections by winning 59 seats in the 78-member civic body. The Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP) came a distant second with 23 seats, while the Congress and NCP performed miserably winning two seats. The Shiv Sena came a cropper, failing to even win one seat in the polls.
The victory in the BNMC polls did bring considerable relief, considering that it performed much better than the 2012 polls when it had won 26 seats against 16 seats won by the Shiv Sena, 9 bagged by the NCP, 8 clinched by the BJP and 31 by others, including smaller and uregistered parties and independents.
Meanwhile, the polls to the newly formed Nagar Panchayats produced mixed results. While the NCP captured power in the Shirala Nagar Panchayat, the BJP emerged single largest party in the Renapur Nagar panchayat.