Boost for Fadnavis as BJP wins Maharashtra municipal polls

MUMBAI: In a huge shot in the arm for the BJP and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, 51 party leaders have been elected Municipal Council President out of the 147 municipal council polls. More than 700 of its candidates have been elected corporators too out of 2,501 seats declared in 147 Municipal Council polls held across 25 districts in the first phase.

This is the first time that Municipal Council Presidents were elected directly by the electorate. The polls are a huge setback for the Congress and the NCP, as the BJP and Shiv Sena made huge gains. The Nationalist Congress Party has come second after the BJP by winning 482 seats but suffered a huge setback as it managed to get only 19 Municipal Council Presidents.

The polls were considered ‘mini Assembly polls’ as corporators can increase influence of their party through their cadre. The Congress and the NCP have suffered a drubbing in many traditional bastions.

The elections were seen as a referendum on the administration of the Fadnavis government and the BJP would be pleased with the results. Fadnavis had personally campaigned throughout the state aggressively for party candidates.

The Shiv Sena too has performed quite well despite no senior leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and others campaigning for its candidates. The Sena managed to win 24 Municipal Council President posts. The party is also leading in more than 400 Municipal council seats.

For the Congress, it was a disappointing performance with leads in 408 seats and 20 Municipal Council President posts. Infighting seems to have already erupted with former chief minister Narayan Rane taking potshots at the Congress leadership in the state while speaking to news channels in the state.

“Candidates have not been chosen on merit, tickets were given on the basis of money exchanged. Our state leadership was not serious enough in fighting the polls. You can’t sit at home and fight the elections,” he alleged.

He didn’t name any Congress leader though. He also took another potshot at the state leadership by saying that the decision to not align with the NCP hurt the two parties.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan said that it was improper of Rane to make such allegations. “He is a senior leader. He should not make such comments. If he has any evidence he should give it to us, we will take action on it,” said Chavan.