Sena steals a march over Congress

The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance is set to take control of the Mumbai and Nagpur civic bodies.

The Shiv Sena-BJP combine has fared well in elections to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation and is moving towards a majority, having secured leads in 92 of the 185 seats for which trends were available from the total of 227 wards.

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Apart from Mumbai, polls were held for nine other corporations in Maharashtra on Thursday. They are Thane, Nashik, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nagpur, Akola and Amravati.

The Sena's nearest rival, the Congress, was leading in 49 seats while the NCP, an ally of the Congress in the state and central governments, was ahead in 16 seats.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, floated by rebel Sena leader Raj Thackeray, was leading in four wards.

The mood was jubilant outside Matoshri, Sena chief Bal Thackeray's home in suburban Bandra, with Shiv Sainiks gathering in large numbers with flags and bursting crackers.

The Sena-BJP combine was leading in Nagpur while the NCP has won a comfortable majority in Pimpri-Chinchwad.