Congress trumps BJP in Maharashtra civic polls, bags 8 municipal councils

MUMBAI: Maharashtra's opposition Congress bagged the presidentship of eight municipal councils of the total 18 civic bodies as results were announced here on Monday. Of the other municipal councils where elections were held held, the ruling coalition's head Bharatiya Janata Party bagged seven presidentships, while Shiv Sena scored a zero. The Nationalist Congress Party bagged one council presidentship and the other two were bagged by an independent and a regional party. The third phase of the ongoing civic body elections in Maharashtra were held Sunday in Aurangabad (three councils), Nanded (nine councils and two Nagar Panchayats), Bhandara (four) and Gadchiroli (two). However, in terms of number of seats, both Congress and BJP scored equally - bagging 108 each of the total 379 seats results declared till 7 p.m. - and another around 30 yet to be declared, said a State Election Commission spokesperson. The NCP came second with 77 seats in its kitty, followed by Shiv Sena in the third position with 38. Among the smaller parties, the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) bagged five seats - two in Aurangabad district's Kannad Municipal Council, two in Ardhapur Nagar Parishad and one in Mahoor Nagar Parishad, both falling in Nanded. Independents took a significant chunk of 28 seats, including 17 in various councils in Bhandara, seven in Nanded, three in Gadchiroli and one in Aurangabad. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party also scored two seats - one each in Dharmabad and Mudkhed Municipal Councils, both in Nanded district and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party was content with one seat in Dharmabad Municipal Council. Local coalition groups bagged five seats in Aurangabad's Kannad Municipal Council, Lokbharati Party secured five in Nanded's Biloli Municipal Council, and state-level Rashtriya Samaj Paksha managed two - one seat each in Nanded and Gadchiroli. Welcoming the mandate, State Congress president Ashok Chavan termed it as "winds of change despite the moneypower and misuse of official machinery by the ruling BJP". He exuded confidence that with this record, the Congress would perform exceedingly well in the other upcoming civic elections in the state over the next few weeks.