BJP has significantly increased its tally of 2013 in both Dhule and Ahmednagar municipality, for which counting was done on Monday. The voting took place on Sunday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a comfortable win in the 74-member Dhule Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra Monday while voters gave a fractured mandate in the Ahmednagar corporation.
Elections to the two civic bodies in the state were held Sunday. Counting of votes was completed Monday evening after which the state election commission announced the results.
BJP won 50 out of 74 seats and gained control of the Dhule civic body for the first time, earlier being ruled by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Congress and NCP alliance won 14 seats, Shiv Sena, AIMIM, Samajwadi Party and independents won two seats each, while one seat went to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
A front floated by BJP rebel and local MLA Anil Gote could win only one seat.
The election in Dhule drew more attention because of Gote's allegations against the BJP leadership for giving tickets to several leaders from the Congress and NCP with alleged criminal background.
Reacting after the results, Gote alleged that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tampered with.
In Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation, the ruling Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party by winning 24 out of 68 seats, followed by NCP and BJP which won 18 and 14 seats, respectively.
The Congress won only five seats, BSP four, independents two and the SP one.
Police used lathi-charge as workers of different political parties scuffled outside the counting centre in Ahmednagar, an official said.
Fifteen out of 27 municipal corporations in the state are now being controlled by the BJP either on its own or in alliance.
Opposition Congress and NCP questioned the results in Dhule and Ahmednagar, alleging that the BJP, which leads the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, used muscle and money power.
"The victory in Dhule is not of BJP, but of `saam, daam, dand, bhed' (use of all resources including money and muscle power)," said state Congress chief Ashok Chavan.
He accused the BJP of admitting goons into the party ahead of the polls. "It has perfected a formula to win elections by using immoral ways," Chavan said.
State NCP chief Jayant Patil echoed him, saying that with BJP MLA Anil Gote rebelling against his party, the result in Dhule should have been in favour of Congress-NCP alliance.
"But the expected vote division did not happen. And that is not surprising. It is a matter of research why the results came out the way they came out," Patil said.
NCP workers believed they could win 28 to 30 seats in Ahmednagar given the party's strong presence there, he said.
In both Dhule and Ahmednagar, there were instances where a large number of people voted for certain candidates but somebody else won, Patil said.
BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said the allegations of EVM tampering and use of money or muscle power were nothing but excuses to shield the opposition's own failure.
"It shows their political immaturity," he said.
1. Rebel Anil Gote fails to dent BJP in Dhule
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The run-up to the Dhule Municipal Corporation polls was a contentious one with BJP MLA Anil Gote accusing his party of inducting criminals and giving them tickets.
Gote has fielded candidates from his local outfit Loksangram against official BJP candidates. It is only ahead in 1 seat out of 74.
Gote Sunday said that some people, who he claimed were BJP workers, threw stones at his car on Saturday.
Earlier peaking to DNA, Gote had said that the all criminals from other parties have joined the BJP. "With the rampant induction of criminals in the party, no other party except BJP has criminals. BJP has given them shelter. There's no point working with a party that promotes criminalisation of politics," said Gote.
2. Girish Mahajan delivered the goods for BJP
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Sources said that Gote was not happy with the BJP leadership for sidelining him in the Dhule Municipal Corporation election. He was also against BJP's decision of making irrigation minister Girish Mahajan in-charge of BJP for Dhule Municipal Corporation elections. However as result stands, BJP has comfortably won in Dhule.
Here's the tally so far:
Dhule :
Total seats - 74
3. Sena holds all aces in Ahmednagar
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However, the magic figure is 35 and even if BSP and independents support Congress and NCP, they will fall short of the majority mark.
Hence all attention will be on Sena now and what Uddhav Thackeray decides to do.
4. Maha assembly election next year
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Maharashtra assembly election will be held few months after the Lok Sabha polls. Shiv Sena has already announced that they will go alone for the assembly polls, while BJP is optimistic of getting its ally on board. Will it ultimately manage to do so? Ahmednagar may just give us some indication.
5. Tally so far
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Tally so far at 16:00 hours
Shiv Sena leads on 17
BJP leads on 18
NCP on 21
Congress on 4
As of now there are three possible alliances with the magic figure on 35. BJP and Sena can come together and achieve this. Cong-NCP can’t make it but BJP and NCP is another possibility. The third is NCP and Sena coming together.
6. Shripad Chindam wins, official confirmation awarted
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Shripad Chindam, the man who had passed objectionable remarks on Shivaji has won by 2000 votes in Ahmednagar, media reports stated. Official confirmation is awaited.
He was former deputy mayor. He defeated BJP's Pradip Pardeshi. He was sacked from BJP for the incident. He won the Ahmednagar Municipal corporation seat by 2000 votes.
He won from ward no -9. Before voting, his brother Shrikant had gone to the pooling both and done prayed to the EVM!
