Lucknow/Mumbai
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have sprung an unpleasant surprise on the Bhartiya Janata Party, which lost in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s adopted village in Varanasi and trailed behind Shiv Sena and Congress in the Kalyan-Dombivili and Kolhapur Municipal corporations. In Nagpur district, which is the home turf of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Opposition NCP wrested power from the BJP in the municipal council polls.
The polls have not brought any good tidings for the ruling Samajwadi party as well as the Congress. While the SP fared badly in party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s pocket borough Etawah, the Congress suffered a setback in Sonia Gandhi stronghold of Rae Bareli.
But overall, the results will send shock waves among the BJP leadership since the party swept the state in the 2015 Lok Sabha polls winning 73 out of 80 seats. On the other hand, the Bahujan Samjwadi Party, which could not even open its account in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, has emerged a major gainer in the Panchayat polls.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he message from Maharashtra is also not very encouraging for the BJP though it vastly improved upon its previous performance in the Kalyan-Dombivili Municipal Corporation. The fact the BJP has trailed Shiv Sena, which emerged as the single largest party, and was placed second to Congress in Kolhapur, is worrying for the party.
The Shiv Sena will now be emboldened to create more trouble for the BJP-led state government. The two allies are on a confrontation course over the lasts several weeks on a range of issues. The Shiv Sena has even warned to withdraw support from the Devendra Fadnavis Government. In this backdrop, the result of the Maharashtra civic polls is going to bring in political instability in the state.
In UP, Modi got a wakeup call when BJP-supported candidates won only in 8 of the 48 seats in the Prime Minister Varanasi constituency. In fact, the BJP lost in Modi’s adopted village of Jayapur in Varanasi when party candidate Arun Singh was defeated by BSP’s Ramesh Tiwari.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]B[/dropcap]ut the BJP will draw consolation from the fact that the SP’s candidate lost in Tamausi village, adopted by party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The village falls in Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha seat represented by Mulayam. Incidentally, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen was able to open its account in Azamgarh by winning a seat in Maksudia.
The panchayat elections are not been contested on party symbols, but parties open back different candidates and campaign for them.
According to results, the SP won around two dozen seats in Varanasi district while Congress won 2, BSP 3, BJP ally Apna Dal 4 and Independents 6.
The Samajwadi Party also fared badly with relatives of several ministers and senior leaders losing in the zila parishad elections. Polling was held for 3,112 posts of district panchayats and 77,576 membership posts in block panchayats…
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n Maharashtra, Shiv Sena pipped the BJP by racing ahead in the Kalyan-Dombivili Municipal Corporation, winning 52 seats in the 122-member body. The BJP came second winning 42 seats here, improving on its earlier tally of nine. However, the fact that Sena has left it behind will not be easy for the BJP to swallow when the party led over Sena in a big way in the assembly polls. The Sena, however, suffered a major loss when BJP’s Suman Nikkam defeated Mayor Kalyani Patil.
In Kalyan Dombivili, Sena bagged 52, BJP 42, MNS 9, BSP 1, Congress 4, NCP 2 , AIMIM 1, Independents and Others 9.
Similarly, despite last year’s stupendous performance in the state assembly polls, BJP could not make any major dent in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation where Congress emerged as the single largest party but fell short of a majority. The Kalyan-Dombivali civic body was controlled by Shiv Sena-BJP Combine and Congress-NCP alliance ruled the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation.
In the 81-ward Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, Congress emerged the largest single party bagging 27 seats, followed by NCP at 15. The BJP-led front bagged 32 seats, Sena 4 and others 3 seats. The NCP captured power from the BJP both in Nagpur and Beed district.
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