Cong trounces BJP to emerge biggest party in Vid NP polls

Nagpur: The Congress emerged as the single-largest party in the 493 Nagar Panchayat (NP) seats in Vidarbha’s nine districts winning 177 after the votes were counted on Wednesday. With 111 seats, the BJP is the second largest outfit in the region. In 2015 polls, the saffron party had swept a majority of NP seats.
The other Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents – NCP and Shiv Sena – failed to make any major impact in a majority of seats that went to the polls on December 21 However, if the combine strength of all three partners in the ruling alliance is taken into the consideration, they have a definite edge over the saffron party.Despite a coalition government in Maharashtra, the three allies fought separately.
The counting in nine NPs in naxal-infested Gadchiroli district would be held on Thursday.
The elections for all these seats took place without the OBC reservation which was cancelled by the Supreme Court after it exceeded the 50% ceiling set by it.
It was a mixed bag for both national parties in the two zilla parishad (ZP) polls at Bhandara and Gondia. In Bhandara, which is the bastion of MPCC president Nana Patole, Congress won 21 seats, while BJP grabbed 12. However, NCP grabbed 13 seats due to the presence of its heavyweight MP Praful Patel.
In Gondia, the BJP took 24 seats out of 53 and Congress 11. NCP suffered a setback here as it emerged winner only on eight seats in comparison with 2015 polls where it had bagged 20 seats. A new party floated by MLA Vinod Agrawal won four seats.
In NP elections held in Hingna and Kuhi towns of Nagpur district, BJP and Congress grabbed the largest number of seats. Under MLA Samir Meghe, the BJP managed to retain power with 12 seats in Hingna, but it narrowly lost in Kuhi where it won four seats against eight of Congress.
In Yavatmal, Congress edged out other parties grabbing 40 out of 102 seats while Sena closely followed it with 25 seats. The BJP managed to win only 13 despite having five MLAs in the district and NCP won just four. The elections were held at Kalamb, Mahagaon, Babhulgaon, Ralegaon, Zari and Maregaon.
In Wardha, the polls took place on 68 NP seats at Karanja (Ghadage), Ashti, Selu and Samudrapur. Congress stamped its authority in 21 seats, closely followed by BJP in 20. NCP, BSP and Sena won four, three and two seats respectively.
In Chandrapur, Congress secured a clear majority in four out of six NPs, while BJP emerged winner in Pombhurna, the bastion of its senior leader Sudhir Mungantiwar. Elections were held for Saoli, Pombhurna, Gondpipri, Korpana, Jiwati, and Sindewahi NP seats. Congress secured 53 seats, while BJP secured 24 seats. NCP managed to grab eight seats and Shiv Sena ended up winning six seats.