Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the BJP has emerged as the largest party in urban, semi-urban and rural Maharashtra after local body elections. He said in the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections in Maharashtra, the people of the state have once again shown their trust in the Mahayuti alliance. According to the trends and results so far, the Mahayuti alliance is leading in most places.
Mahayuti alliance emerging victorious in Kolhapur and Latur
In Kolhapur and Latur, where all three parties contested together, the Mahayuti alliance emerged victorious. The BJP has broken its own 2017 record this time. In 2017, the BJP won 284 seats, while this time it has already secured 410 seats.
In the Panchayat Samiti elections, the Mahayuti alliance has been successful in more than 100 out of 125 panchayat samitis. However, it was unfortunate that senior leader Ajit Pawar passed away just before the elections, which was a major blow to the Mahayuti alliance.
He said these results clearly reflect the mindset of the people in the rural areas of Maharashtra. “Although all the results are yet to be declared, according to the results so far, the BJP has emerged as the number one party in the state. The performance of its alliance partners has also been quite strong,” he said.
Perception about BJP an only an urban party was dispelled in 2014
The chief minister further stated that the perception that the BJP was only an urban party was dispelled in 2014. The party performed better in 2017, and this time's results have further solidified that strength, he said.
Taking a dig at the opposition, he stated that it was said that the opposition needs to understand the pulse of the people. “The opposition has lost touch with the public and is only engaging in politics of allegations, which is why such election results are repeatedly coming to the fore,” he said.
The BJP and its Mahayuti ally Shiv Sena were ahead of their rivals as per the early trends of the local body elections in Maharashtra on Monday, establishing a lead in 200 and 137 Zilla Parishad seats, respectively.
BJP takes lead with 200 seats out of 731 in Zila Parishad elections
Counting of votes for elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis began at 10 am. While there was no official confirmation from the State Election Commission, TV channels reported that the BJP has established a lead in 200 out of 731 seats and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in 137 seats of Zilla Parishads till 2 pm.
The NCP is ahead in 120 seats, Congress 46, Shiv Sena (UBT) 33, NCP (SP) 13, and others in 29. The polls were held on Saturday in 12 Zilla Parishads - Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv and Latur - to elect 731 members along with 1,462 seats in 125 Panchayat Samitis under their jurisdiction.
A total of 2,624 candidates contested the Zilla Parishad polls, and 4,814 candidates were in the fray for the Panchayat Samiti elections. The results are expected to shape the future course for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions of late Ajit Pawar and party founder Sharad Pawar.
The two factions had set aside their bitter two-year rivalry to contest these local body polls in an informal alliance in Pune, Satara, Solapur and Sangli, where candidates from both sides contested under the original 'clock' symbol.
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