BJP rout in Nagpur Zilla Parishad a ‘ shock ‘ poll: Shiv Sena
Polling for six ZPs in Maharashtra-Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar (332 seats)-and Panchayat Samitis (664 seats) in their jurisdiction took place on Tuesday and the results were declared on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Shiv Sena called the election result in Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP), where the BJP was ousted from power by the Congress as “sensational and surprising.” Polling for six ZPs in Maharashtra-Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar (332 seats)-and Panchayat Samitis (664 seats) in their jurisdiction took place on Tuesday and the results were announced on Wednesday. The BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari.The BJP won only 15 of the 58 seats in the Nagpur ZP, where the Congress had a handsome 30 seats, while its ally, the NCP, had 10 seats. The editorial in’ Saamana,’ the mouthpiece of the ruling Shiv Sena, pointed out that except for Dhule, the BJP had suffered defeat in the remaining five district councils.
In these five districts, the Congress, the NCP, the Shiv Sena and Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) have done “very well,” the Marathi daily said. The editorial stated that the defeat of the BJP in the hometown of Fadnavis, the former Chief Minister, and Gadkari, the Union Minister, was “sensational and shocking” and the result shows that the rural population was “fed up” with the party.” Congress was doing well in the Assembly elections in Nagpur (held in October) and now the District Council of the BJP is wrestling,” Sena said. The paper said in Nandurbar and elsewhere that if the Congress had fought the elections in alliance with the Shiv Sena, the BJP would have been “finished.” The Senate is in power in Maharashtra in coalition with the Congress and the NCP. In the 56-member Nandurbar ZP, both the Congress and the BJP won 23 seats each, while the Sena, which had no previous presence in the Council, had seven seats.” No party can get power in the district council without the support of the Shiv Sena. The anger of losing power in Nandurbar was so much that BJP goons attacked Sena party office in Akkalkua,” the paper noted. However, despite losing in Nagpur, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in these ZP polls, winning 109 of the 332 seats on offer.
