BMC Polls: When a BJP candidate's victory was sealed by lottery

 As the results of keenly-contested election to the city civic body BMC came in, BJP's Atul Shah had the distinction of getting elected through a lottery. Shah contested from ward number 220 in Girgaum, a Shiv Sena stronghold. He and his main rival Surendra Bagalkar of Sena won the same number of votes: 5,496. After holding a recount thrice in the presence of candidates -- as is mandatory in the case of a tie -- BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta had to rush to the counting centre in Mumbai Central area as the tally didn't change. As per the set procedure, chits with two candidates' names on them were drawn, and Shah emerged as the winner, State Election Commission officials said. 

A five-year-old girl today decided the fate of two candidates in the ward number 220 of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation who polled equal number of votes. Chits were drawn, and five years old Yashika Salunkhe picked up one of the chits. The winner was BJP spokesperson Atul Shah. Shah and his main rival Shiv Sena's Surendra Bagalkar were tied at 5,496 votes in ward number 220 which is in Girgaum area.
The number did not change even after three recounts which are mandatory in such situations, so the lottery system was adopted, state election officials said. 

As it put up a sterling performance in civic polls across Maharashtra including the cash-rich BMC, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said BJP's victory resulted from a vote for transparency and demonetisation.  A jubilant Fadnavis, who spearheaded BJP's poll campaign, said the party's core committee will decide the future course of action in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). "All decisions for the party are taken by its core committee. Whether or not to go for an alliance will be decided when I, (Maharashtra BJP President) Raosaheb Danve, (Mumbai BJP chief) Ashish Shelar sit and look at the prevailing situation," Fadnavis told reporters here.

BJP came a close second to the Shiv Sena bagging 80 seats in the 227-member BMC, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led party emerged victorious with 84 seats. The BJP is also set to gain control of at least six civic bodies -- Pune, Nashik, Ulhasnagar, Akola, Nagpur and Amravati -- out of the 10 corporations for which the elections were held on Tuesday. The party is also doing well in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, as per the latest trends.

The BJP also appeared to have expanded its base in Pimpri Chinchwad, despite fierce competition from the NCP. Fadnavis said the results are an ample indication that people have accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's note ban move and the state government's transparency plank. "Our politics consists of trust and transparency. This result is a reflection that people have accepted our style of governance. No other party in the last 25 years has got such a wonderful result," he said. "In BMC, we have got an amazing response. Our agenda of transparency and accountability been accepted by people," he said.

Fadnavis said the results of BMC and other municipal corporations has made the BJP more humble and that instead of indulging in mere talk, they would concentrate on good governance."This is a victory of demonetisation. The move was to end corruption and weed out black money. The results have proven people have faith in Modi ji's governance," he said. The party's state unit chief, Danve, said they had all along known BJP would emerge as the single largest party.

"We had all along known that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party. It was (PM Narendra) Modi ji and (BJP National President) Amit Shah ji's dream that BJP should be from government from panchayat to Parliament. This dream has been brought true by Maharashtra BJP workers," he said. "This result is only due to the work done by Modi ji at the Centre and Fadnavis here," he added.

BJP MP Kirit Somaiya sought to know if the Congress will provide outside support to the Sena to help them stake claim to power in the BMC. After the polls, we have come to know that the Congress has started sending signals to the Sena to accept their support," Somaiya said. "We want to ask the Congress to openly come out and declare support to the Sena to stop us, like they tied up with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh," he added.

The results of 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, have seen the Congress plummeting to a new low with the lowest ever tally in the BMC and losing Solapur and Amravati to the BJP.

Meanwhile, Sena MLC Anil Parab said that the Mayor will be from the party only and that it has started talks with independents to form its government. Senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi said that they are not considering an alliance with the BJP and that the final call on teaming up with other parties will be taken by Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.