Maharashtra district polls: BJP loses five zilla parishads, including RSS bastion Nagpur

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra lost the Zilla Parishad elections in Nagpur on Wednesday, Maharashtra Times reported. Nagpur is the headquarters of the BJP’s ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the Lok Sabha constituency of Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

Of the 58 seats in Nagpur, the Congress won 31, the BJP 15, the Nationalist Congress Party 10, the Shiv Sena one and the Peasants and Workers Party one seat, The Times of India reported. The BJP also lost the seat in Gadkari’s native village Dhapewada.

The Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, collectively known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi, contested the polls together. The alliance, formed in November, is in power in the state, with Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister.

The Zilla Parishad elections in Nandurbar district on Wednesday saw the BJP and the Congress win 23 seats each. The Shiv Sena won seven seats and the Nationalist Congress Party three.

In Washim, no party came close to securing a majority. Of the 52 seats, the Congress won nine seats, the BJP seven, the Shiv Sena six, the Nationalist Congress Party 12, the Janvikas Aghadi seven, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi eight, and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana one, while two seats went to Independents.

In Palghar district, Shiv Sena won 17 of 57 seats, Nationalist Congress Party 14, Independents 12, the Congress one and the BJP 12, The Free Press Journal reported. In Akola, Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi emerged the winner with 23 seats, followed by 11 seats for the Shiv Sena, seven for the BJP, and five for the Congress. The Nationalist Congress Party bagged three seats.

The BJP, however, emerged victorious in Dhule, winning 39 of the 56 seats. It won 103 of the 332 seats in the six districts that went to the polls, the most for any party.