Ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress in Maharashtra are leading in gram panchayat elections, according to the initial trends from counting that began on Monday morning. Though the village panchayat elections are not fought on party symbols, panels are fielded by political parties or local leaders.
Shiv Sena appears to be leading, having bagged the maximum village panchayats so far.
About half or 12,711 village panchayats went to the polls on January 15, while 162 panchayats in Gadchiroli will see elections on January 20. Rest of the panchayats were announced unopposed. As many as 214,880 candidates were in the fray for 125, 709 seats and 26,718 members were elected unopposed.
The counting in 12,711 panchayats began on Monday morning. Results for more than 1,490 gram panchayats have been announced with Shiv Sena leading in terms of the panchayats won so far. As per sources, the panels led by Shiv Sena have bagged more than 336 panchayats, while BJP is on the second position with more than 266 panchayats. NCP has bagged over 220 panchayats while Congress is on the fourth position with over 145 panchayats.
Shiv Sena has bagged 87 of 119 panchayats in Ratnagiri, while in Kolhapur, which is the stronghold of Congress, it is leading by bagging 16 panchayats followed by 13 won by NCP. In Solapur, most of the local bodies were bagged by BJP during its regime in state until 2019. The party saw defeat in most of the panchayats whose results were announced.
{{/usCountry}}Shiv Sena has bagged 87 of 119 panchayats in Ratnagiri, while in Kolhapur, which is the stronghold of Congress, it is leading by bagging 16 panchayats followed by 13 won by NCP. In Solapur, most of the local bodies were bagged by BJP during its regime in state until 2019. The party saw defeat in most of the panchayats whose results were announced.
{{/usCountry}}Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan-led panel in Karad in Satara district was defeated by BJP-led local panels. In Patan tehsil in Satara district, Shiv Sena has bagged more seats defeating NCP candidates. The tehsil is stronghold of NCP leader Shashikant Shinde. Shiv Sena in leading in Nandurbar, Nashik in north Maharashtra, while NCP leading in Ahmednagar, which is citadel of Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat and BJP’s Radhakrishan Vikhe Patil.
“It is true that we are in the fourth position as far as the initial trend is concerned, but almost 90% of the results are yet to be declared. We are sure that we will get lead in Vidarbha from where the results are yet to be announced,” said Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe.