BJP wins Dhule civic body polls, hung house in Ahmednagar - Hindustan Times
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BJP wins Dhule civic body polls, hung house in Ahmednagar

Hindustan Times, Pune | By
Dec 11, 2018 01:46 PM IST

Ahmednagar municipal corporation, however, headed for hung house with the Shiv Sena emerging as the single largest party bagging 24 seats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Dhule municipal corporation elections, but the party did not register a win in the Ahmednagar civic body polls after counting of votes on Monday.

The counting for votes began on Monday a day after the polls were held in both the civic bodies.(REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)
The counting for votes began on Monday a day after the polls were held in both the civic bodies.(REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

In Dhule, the BJP won 50 out of 74 seats, emerging as the clear winner, while its rebel member of the legislative assembly (MLA) Anil Gote’s party Lok Sangram was rejected by voters, winning only one seat.

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The counting of votes began on Monday, a day after the polls were held in both civic bodies, previously controlled by a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress alliance.

According to official figures, the BJP registered a win in Dhule for the first time by improving its tally from three seats the previous elections to 50 seats this election. The Congress and the NCP alliance won 14 seats while the Shiv Sena, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Samajwadi Party and independents won two seats each.

One seat went to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Gote’s Lok Sangram could win only one seat.

The result has come as a shock for the Congress and the NCP, which were planning to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections jointly, to defeat the BJP.

In Ahmednagar, the Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party bagging 24 out of 68 seats, followed by the NCP and the BJP which won 18 and 14 seats, respectively.

The Congress, which fought elections in alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, won five seats, while BSP managed to grab four seats, independents two and SP one.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hailed the verdict saying that the BJP is committed to provide clean and transparent administration in Dhule. “The BJP has won 64 seats out of 142 from the two municipal corporations. I congratulate the party leaders and workers. The party will also introspect as to why it did not get the expected number of seats in Ahmednagar,” said Fadnavis.

The elections in the two municipal corporations along with six municipal councils, of which the BJP bagged three, were held against the backdrop of the government giving reservation to the Marathas.

However, the party got limited mileage on the reservation issue in Ahmednagar, which has a large Maratha population.

Reacting to the results, state congress chief Ashok Chavan questioned the BJP’s performance in Dhule, saying, “This victory of the BJP should be attributed to saam, daam, dand, bhed (use of all resources including money and muscle power) policy adopted by the party,” said Chavan.

With the Lok Sabha elections a few months away, the election results brought good news for BJP leaders, particularly to the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who personally campaigned in Dhule and Ahmednagar.

With the latest win, the BJP now controls 15 out of 27 municipal corporations in Maharashtra either on its own or in coalition.

Dhule win

The run-up to the Dhule Municipal Corporation polls, a contentious issue was Gote accusing his party of inducting criminals and giving them tickets. After the results were out, Gote blamed the BJP of tampering with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) to ensure the win.

“The people of Dhule wanted change and therefore, they voted for the BJP. The people also rejected Gote, who launched a personal attack against me and other party leaders,” said Girish Mahajan, a senior minister in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet. Mahajan has been credited for Dhule’s win as he micromanaged the election campaign in this north-Maharashtra town. Earlier, Mahajan was credited with the party’s victory in Jalgaon civic polls.

Sharing power in Ahmednagar

The Shiv Sena leaders said that they will talk to a section of the BJP about sharing power at the civic body level. “If our leaders approve, we will stake claim for the top post in the civic body by forging an alliance with a section of the BJP,” said Sena leader Anil Rathod.

For the Congress, the results are worrisome as the elections were crucial for party heavyweights from the district and would play a decisive role in the political future of the leader of the opposition in the assembly. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, former minister Balasaheb Thorat and state Youth Congress chief Satyajit Tambe all hail from Ahmednagar.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Yogesh Joshi is Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times. He covers politics, security, development and human rights from Western Maharashtra.

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