Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Election Results 2021 Live Updates: Counting Of Votes Underway; Litmus Test For MVA Govt's Performance

Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Election 2021 Results LIVE Updates:

Background

Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Election 2021 Results LIVE Updates:

The counting of votes is underway for the third tier of governance at 14,234 Gram Panchayats across 34 of Maharashtra's 36 districts (except Mumbai and suburban districts) for `125,709 seats.’

The results are being viewed as a litmus test for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government as local issues intertwined with regional or state concerns dominated the poll campaigns.

As per the initial trends, Shiv Sena,which is part of the ruling alliance of the state,  is leading in over 270 seats while BJP is leading in 257. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which is also a unit of the MVA government was leading in 218 seats, while the Congress was ahead in 124.

Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was at the front in five seats.

The trends are mercurial and are changing at regular intervals.  The results will be an indicator of how the parties have fared at grassroot level. It is reported that approximately 66 per cent of the voters turned out and the response was "overwhelming" especially from women and youth, besides voters in the Maoist-hit district of Gadchiroli.

From the total 14,234 Gram Panchayats, 12,776 went to vote as the members in 1,461 village councils were declared elected unopposed.

First major test for Uddhav government:
This is the first major grassroots electoral challenge before the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray since it assumed office 15 months ago.

In fray:
A whopping 214,880 candidates from all the major political parties, state parties, regional parties and local parties besides independents were in the fray for the crucial elections, the outcome of which is considered a litmus test for the MVA government's popularity and performance.

Of these, as many as 26,718 candidates have been declared elected unopposed.

In many villages, the voters turned out spiritedly in groups to the voting booths to elect a total of 125,709 member-representatives to their respective Gram Panchayats.