The panchayat election results in Uttar Pradesh have thrown up many surprises with stalwarts failing to retain a hold on their home turfs, while in Maharashtra the Shiv Sena has stolen a march over the BJP.
The results from UP have also come as a big jolt to the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), which suffered a serious setback as party candidates lost in its bastion Etawah district and the relatives of several Ministers and senior party leaders were defeated.
The Congress suffered a crushing defeat by losing all nine district panchayat seats in its bastion Amethi represented in the lok Sabha by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP also lost in Jayapur Village, adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.
Of the total 47 BJP-supported candidates for Kshetra panchayat in Varanasi, only eight won. The BJP also lost in Benti Village adopted by the lucknow MP and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Asaduddin Owaisi-led Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) opened its account in Azamgarh and Muzaffarnagar as its supported candidates won the seats of member district panchayat.
Even after 35 hours, counting of votes was still underway and is likely to be finalised late on Monday night. The State Election Commission said, out of the total seats of 3,112 members of district panchayats, results of less than half or 1,280 seats have so far been declared. For the Kshetra panchayat or block development committee members, out
of the total 77,5766 seats results of 74,876 seats have been declared so far.
The SP lost all the seats of member Kshetra panchayat in Takha and Chakarnagar block of Etawah district. The SP candidates for the member district panchayat also suffered
defeat in both the blocks. The BJP candidates won from both the blocks. The SP, however, managed to save its fort in other blocks like Jaswant Nagar, Bharthana, Badpura and Basehar.
Totaram Yadav, whose booth capturing video went viral on the social media, has lost the election of member of Kshetra Panchayat from the Bewar block of Mainpuri district-the home turf of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav-four time MP from Mainpuri lok Sabha seat.
On the orders of the SEC an FIR was lodged against Totaram Yadav and 15 others, including policemen on duty.
The MIM opened its account in Azamgarh, the stronghold of the local MP and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The MIM candidate Kailash Kumar Gautam won the election of member district panchayat from Ward No. 39 of Azamgarh. Netrapal Boudh of MIM also won the election of member district panchayat from Ward No. 12 of Muzaffarnagar district. In Azamgarh the daughter-in-law of the SP MlA Abhay Narayan Patel lost the election.
Many family members of other Ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav Cabinet contested the polls but had to bite the dust. Family members of Ministers like Manoj Kumar Pandey in Raebareli, Shiv Pratap Yadav in Balrampur, Shankh lal Manjhi in Ambedkar Nagar and Minister-rank SP leader Vidyawati lost the election. The SP has also faced a jolt in Farrukhabad.
In Mumbai, the high-stake Kalyan- Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) poll threw up a hung house as the Shiv Sena outsmarted its senior alliance partner the BJP and bagged 52 seats in the 122-member civic body, thus emerging as the single-largest party, but still falling ten seats short of a simple majority.
Elsewhere in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) in western Maharashtra, the Congress appeared poised to retain control over the 81-member civic body by emerging as the single-largest party with 27 seats, followed by the NCP with 15 seats. The BJP and Taragan combine which contested the polls as an alliance, won 12 seats and 20 seats respectively, while the Shiv Sena managed to secure only four seats.
In an election outcome that may alter the post-poll political equations, the Shiv Sena walked away with 52 seats in the KDMC polls, followed by 42 seats by the BJP, nine seats by the MNS, four seats and two seats by the BUP.
Significantly enough, the MIM opened an account with one seat, while the Mayawati-led BSP has one seat.
Of the 122 wards under KDMC, elections were held in 117 wards, as two villages had boycotted the election and three villages elected candidates unopposed.
The BJP may not have won more number of seats than the Shiv Sena, but it has reason to be satisfied given the sizeable numbers it got this time as opposed to what it had won in the previous elections.
However, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS has emerged as both a loser and winner in the KDMC polls. While it has won a mere nine seats against the 27 seats it had won in the previous polls, the MNS has emerged as the kingmaker in the post-poll scenario in the KDMC.
Given the continued bitterness between the Shiv Sena and the BJP, one should not be surprised if the Sena - which needs ten seats to take over the reins of the KDMC, seeks the support of the nine-member MNS. Such a situation would rob the BJP of the opportunity of sharing power in the KDMC.
It remains to be seen how the Shiv Sena and BJP will deal with the post-poll situation in the KDMC. If the two saffron alliance partners manage to put behind their bitterness witnessed during the campaigning, the Sena will have an upper hand in ruling the KDMC.
Meanwhile, the Congress emerged the single-largest party in the 81 member-KDMC with 27 seats followed by the NCP with 15. The BJP and Taragan combine, both of which contested the polls as an alliance, won 12 seats and 20 seats respectively.
The Congress will in all likelihood have a post-poll alliance with the NCP in the KMC. “We will have our Mayor in the KMC,” senior Congress leader Satej Patel said.
On the post-poll possibilities in the KDMC, senior BJP leader and Minister Chandrakant Patil said that the BJP and Shiv Sena are “natural allies”. “We are not enemies, we can some together,” Patil said.
Senior Sena leader and Thane’s Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde said that the Shiv Sena will install its mayor in the KDMC. “Uddhav will take the final decision,” he said.