All parties claim max seats in Vid GP polls

Nagpur: Taking advantage of the fact that gram panchayat elections are not contested on party symbols, all the four major political parties of the state – Congress, NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena – claimed to have won maximum number of panchayats in Vidarbha. Over 3,800 panchayats had gone to the polls on January 15.
In Nagpur district, both Congress and BJP claimed to have won in maximum number of panchayats.District Congress president Rajendra Mulak claimed that his party had won 83 panchayats out of 129 while BJP had won in only 25. According to Mulak, NCP had won in only 14 villages while Shiv Sena’s figure was 5. Other parties and independents had won in two panchayats.
On the other hand, district BJP president Arvind Gajbhiye said that BJP was forming a government on its own in 65 panchayats and was coming to power with the help of independents in eight more, taking the tally to 73. He said that efforts were on to form the government in between seven and ten more panchayats. According to Gajbhiye, Congress had only between 20 and 25 panchayats.
NCP district president Shivraj Gujar said that his party was forming the government in 30 panchayats and had won between one and three seats in 29 panchayats.
Shiv Sena leader Raju Harne did not make any tall claims of winning big. He said that Sena was forming the government on its own in Dhamna village winning 5 out of 8 seats. Ashish Jaiswal, who had contested the assembly elections as a Shiv Sena rebel, claimed that Sena was forming the government in 60% panchayats in Ramtek assembly constituency.
In Bhandara district, BJP claimed to have soundly defeated Congress in assembly speaker Nana Patole’s constituency Sakoli. Leaders in general claimed to have won maximum seats in the district. They, however, did not celebrate the victory as a mark of respect to the victims of the Bhandara hospital tragedy.
Congress claimed to have won the maximum number of panchayats in Wardha district followed by the BJP. Shiv Sena came a cropper in the district winning only one panchayat.
BJP claimed to have won in 339 out of 604 panchayats in Chandrapur district. On the other hand, Congress claimed that 65% of its candidates had won. Dr Kalyan Kumar, husband of social activist Paromita Goswami, won from Chitegaon panchayat.
In Amravati district, Congress and NCP leaders, including minister Yashomati Thakur, were able to ensure victory of their candidates. However, in Dhamangaon Railway assembly constituency, BJP MLA Pratap Adsad ensured victory of his candidates.
In Yavatmal district, forest minister Sanjay Rathod was able to ensure victory of Shiv Sena candidates in his constituency. In other places, the picture was mixed and many leaders of the district received a jolt in their own backyard.
In Buldhana district, leaders of all parties claimed to have won maximum number of seats.