The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Monday won big in elections to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis in Ratnagiri district. The party had won 40 of the 56 Zilla Parishad seats and 70 of the 112 Panchayat Samiti seats in the district. The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) had organised the voting on February 7 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, days after the successful conclusion of the municipal corporation elections.
The Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections were held in 12 districts across three divisions, including the Ratnagiri, which borders Raigad, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg. The Ratnagiri district has 56 Zilla Parishad seats and 112 seats in nine Panchayat Samitis -- Mandangad, Dapoli, Khed, Chiplun, Guhagar, Ratnagiri, Sangmeshwar, Lanja, and Rajapur.
Who won the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections in Ratnagiri?
Zilla Parishad:
Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has won 40 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) four, and the NCP has won five seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has won six seats and others have won just one seat.
Panchayat Samiti:
Like the Zilla Parishads, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has also emerged as the single largest party in Panchayat Samitis in Ratnagiri, winning around 70 seats.
These elections were held in Maharashtra just days after the demise of Ajit Pawar. Interestingly, the polling was supposed to be held on February 5. However, the state poll body deferred it to February 7 because of the state mourning declared over Ajit Pawar's demise. Ajit Pawar, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, died in January following a plane crash near the Baramati airport in the Pune district.
What happened in previous Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections in Ratnagiri?
The previous Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections were held in Maharashtra in 2017. Back then, the undivided Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest in Zilla Parishads in Ratnagiri, winning 39 seats. The undivided NCP won 15 seats and the Congress won just one seat. The undivided Shiv Sena was also the single largest party in the Panchayat Samitis in Ratnagiri, with 73 seats. The NCP had won 30 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won four seats, the Congress two and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) one seat.
