BJP is losing RSS Nagpur Bastion, four more Zilla Parishads in Maharashtra.

Nagpur Updates January 9, 2020

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The Congress–Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combined dealt the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a humiliating defeat in the elections to the prestigious Nagpur Zilla Parishad–home to opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) –officials said here on Wednesday.Apart from Nagpur, the BJP was defeated in Palghar, Nandurbar and Washim, and the Congress in Dhule, while the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) had the surprise charge of Akola Zilla Parishad (ZP).

Out of a total of 332 seats in six ZPs, the BJP had 103 seats, Congress 73, NCP 46, Shiv Sena 49, VBA 42, while the Independents and others had 14 seats. In the 58-seat Nagpur ZP for which the polls were conducted, the Congress held 30 seats, the NCP 10 seats, while the BJP had only 15 seats. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena chose to compete alone in Nagpur ZP and had to be content with just one seat, while the Independents and others won two seats in this prestigious local body. In the Palghar ZP of 57 seats, the Sena had 18 seats, the NCP 14 and the BJP 12, while the CPI(M) had five seats, and the Independents had three. Congress had only one seat. Nevertheless, the BJP had reason to smile in Dhule, where 39 of the 56 seats were held, followed by the Congress of Seven, Sena Four and NCP Three, plus three Independents.There was a neck-to-neck fight in Nandurbar for the 56 seats in which BJP and Congress had 23 seats, Sena seven and NCP three. The BJP experienced a jolt in Washim ZP where, out of a total of 52 seats, the party had only seven seats, the NCP had 12 seats, Congress nine seats, Sena six seats, VBA 15 seats, while the Independents had three seats.

The VBA–which failed to open its account in the 2019 elections to Lok Sabha and the Assembly–held the 53-seat Akola ZP with 22 seats, followed by Sena with 13 seats, NCP with 4 seats, Congress with 3 and Independents with 4 seats.The elections for the 58 Zilla Parishad and 116 Panchayat Samitis seats were held on 7 January and the results were announced on Wednesday. Even in the six Panchayat Samiti (PS) polls, there was a shock in store for the BJP, with only 194 of the 664 seats in which the elections were held. The Congress had 145 seats, Shiv Sena 117, NCP 80, VBA 78, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena two, CPI(M) 12, CPI one, Independents and others 34.Congresswoman Mahendra Dongre won a seat in Dhapewada, the native village of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.Congressman Nana Kambale dealt another blow by bagging Koradi’s seat— the hometown of former B.The Nagpur ZP and several other local authorities were under the jurisdiction of the BJP-Sena when they were allies until the Sena joined the MVA with the Congress-NCP in November 2019. The losses of the BJP came despite the high-profile campaign launched by the top-ranking state leaders for all these civic bodies.