The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) impressive performance in 25 Zilla Parishads and 283 Panchayat Samitis has elevated it to number one position among the four major political parties in the State. It previously stood at number four.
As per results made available by State Election Commission (SEC), BJP topped the chart by winning 406 seats out of 1,509 which went to polls. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) steps down to second position with 360 seats and Congress to third from its previous second with 309 seats.
Despite the tough fight it offered the BJP in Mumbai and Thane, Sena finds itself at number four with 271 seats.
In 2012, the seats won by NCP, Congress, Sena and BJP were 511, 419, 243 and 165 respectively.
“Our wins have made us more humble than ever before. Now it is our responsibility to deliver on the promises that we made,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said after the victory on Thursday.
Spectacular performance
The BJP’s spectacular performance can be gauged from the fact that except for Jalgaon, Jalna, Beed, Wardha and Chandrapur the party could not reach double digit mark in 2012.
While it retained dominance in Jalgaon, Jalna, Wardha and Chandrapur it wrested Congress strongholds Latur in Marathwada and Sangli in western Maharashtra.
The BJP also managed to dent the Congress bastion of Kolhapur and Ahmednagar.
For the Congress, the polls have turned out to be a forgettable affair. Except for senior leader Narayan Rane’s hometown of Sindhudurg and State unit chief Ashok Chavan’s home pitch Nanded, it does not enjoy any power on its own.
Consolation win for NCP
In Pune, though the BJP all but routed other major political players in the municipal corporations, the NCP managed to retain the ZP, bagging 41 of the 75 seats. The Shiv Sena came second, winning 13 while the BJP secured only six seats.
“The results of the ZP and Panchayat Samiti elections prove we still have the support of the rural voters in Pune district. Likewise, in the case of Satara and Ahmednagar,” said NCP MP Supriya Sule.
The NCP coasted along in the Satara ZP, winning 34 of 64 seats. It emerged as the single-largest party in the Solapur ZP as well, winning 23 of the 68 seats. The BJP came second here, securing 15 seats.
But the NCP’s brightest spot was a small upset it managed in Marathwada, by denting the BJP’s base in Beed, winning 25 of the 60 seats.
This setback for BJP leader Pankaja Munde on her home-turf caused her to offer to resign soon after the results were announced.
The chief architect of Ms. Munde’s defeat was her estranged cousin, NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, which made her defeat personal.
In fact, both the NCP and the Congress made decent gains in Zilla Parishad elections in the Marathwada division. The NCP won the Osmanabad ZP, snaring 26 of the 55 seats.
The Congress came off even worse than the NCP in the municipal polls. It performed abysmally in the Solapur Municipal Corporation and was routed in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where it failed to open its account.
Yet, as consolation, it emerged as the single-largest party in the Ahmednagar Zilla Parishad poll, winning 20 of the 72 seats. The NCP came a close second bagging 17 seats.Another commendable win was in the Konkan region, where the Congress scored an absolute majority in the Sindhudurg Zilla Parishad, winning 27 of the 50 seats.
Century for Gadkari
In Nagpur, the BJP has become the first party to get a clear majority in 40 years.
Despite being at the helm of the Nagpur Municipal Council in the last two terms, and was dependant on other parties for outside support.
“I was expecting 80 to 85 seats but 108 out of 151 is a great victory,” Union Minister and Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari told reporters at his residence on Thursday.
According to political observers, infighting in the Congress was one of the main reasons for the BJP's victory.
Until 2014, Nagpur was a Congress bastion. In the Lok Sabha elections that year Mr. Gadkari defeated seven-time Congress MP from Nagpur, Vilas Muttemwar, by 2,84,000 votes. In the Assembly elections four months later, the BJP defeated Congress in all six Assembly segments.
