In Maharashtra Local Polls, BJP Claims Most Seats But Shiv Sena, Allies Set To Win

Mumbai:

Election results for 106 semi-urban local bodies – nagar panchayats, or government bodies for areas with a small population – in Maharashtra are being declared today.

Overall trends indicate Sharad Pawar’s NCP will form the panchayat in 25 areas, with the BJP in 24, the Congress in 18 and the Shiv Sena in 14.

The NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), the Congress and the Shiv Sena are part of Maharashtra’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi.

They are contesting jointly in some areas and independently in others, but combined they look set to defeat the BJP by a huge margin – winning control of over half of the panchayats.

The BJP is likely to emerge with the most seats across, having won 379 of 1,802 seats. So far, results for 1,683 seats have been declared.

The BJP’s state unit chief, Chandrakant Patil, claimed the party was therefore the single-largest political force in the state. Despite being out of power for nearly 26 months, the BJP had been successful, and this shows we can deliver good results without any government support, he said.

The NCP has won 359 seats, the Sena 297 and the Congress 281, meaning that combined the Maha Vikas Aghadi has again defeated the BJP by a massive margin.

Last month the Supreme Court was approached by the Maharashtra government seeking a recall of the court’s December 15 order that stayed 27 per cent reservation for OBC in local body elections.

The Supreme Court had directed the State Election Commission to revert the 27 per cent reservation for OBC back to ‘general category’.

In March 2020 the court had said reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed a total of 50 per cent of all seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Tribes and OBCs.

A nagar panchayat is a form of urban local self-government established in towns that are not classified as either ‘urban’ or ‘rural’, and not have a functional municipality. They are composed of a certain number of Councillors which can be changed by the state government via notification.

With input from PTI