Congress sweeps Nanded civic polls, NCP & MIM routed

MUMBAI: The BJP failed to make a dent in Ashok Chavan’s bastion in Marathwada, with the Congress led by the former chief minister sweeping the Nanded-Waghala municipal corporation elections on Thursday.
The Congress had won 69 out of 77 seats declared till the time of going to press; the total number of seats is 81, but results of four were delayed for technical reasons and may be out on Friday.
The Congress had won 42 seats in the 2012 polls.
While the BJP won just six seats, the MIM and NCP, which had 11 and 10 seats in the earlier House respectively, could not even open their account.
The BJP, whose poll campaign in Nanded was led by CM Devendra Fadnavis was expected to make inroads into the Chavan stronghold, but it won only six seats (as against two earlier), while the Shiv Sena got just one (it had 14 in 2012). The Owaisi-led MIM and Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which had played an important role in the last polls, were routed. MIM’s downfall is being seen as significant considering it has been held responsible in recent years for the split in minority votes.
Since Fadnavis took over the state’s reins in October 2014, the BJP has won most civic bodies for which polls have been held, so it was expected to do well. For Chavan too, though, the poll was crucial as Congress has controlled the Nanded corporation ever since it was formed in 1997.
Fadnavis failed to impress voters in the township, though, apart from him, state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve and labour minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar addressed a series of meetings there. The CM had launched a frontal attack against Chavan and the Sena, saying that Chavan was not a clean leader and that the Sena was Congress’s B team.
Chavan was jubilant but surprised over the landslide win. “I was sure of a victory for Congress, but I never expected people would vote in favour of Congress in such large numbers. I am grateful to the people of my hometown Nanded. The poll outcome is the beginning of the downfall of the BJP regime at the Centre as well as in the state, and Congress is on a comeback trail,” he said.
Chavan said people had realised PM Narendra Modi and Fadnavis had misled them over prices of petroleum products, farm loan waiver, demonetization and GST, and failed to halt farmers’ suicides, particularly in Marathwada and Vidarbha. “The world over, prices of petroleum products are falling steadily, but in India there was a steep hike. On the eve of elections, there was some reduction but voters were not impressed. On loan waiver, Fadnavis is misleading farmers. Even now, no one knows when loans will be waived. GST too has become a tool to harass the common man. The government has failed on all fronts,’’ he added.
Chavan said it was unfortunate that during the poll campaign, the BJP had given “misleading” information on transfer of tenements in his family members’ names in a cooperative housing society for legislators. “The vilification campaign did not help BJP,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the win was a personal one for Chavan and not for Congress. “If we see the outcome of recent elections, we will see Congress has won in Muslim-dominated corporations,” he said.