Maharashtra Gram Panchayat polls: Both BJP-Eknath Shinde, Thackeray-led Opposition coalition claim victory

The BJP claimed that it won 274 gram panchayats while 40 nominees backed by its Shinde -led Shiv Sena faction have been elected as sarpanches in the polls. It also claimed that NCP, Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena have respectively won 62, 37 and 12 seats.

TN National Desk

Updated Sep 20, 2022, 12:48 IST

Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis

Photo : ANI

Mumbai: Maharashtra's ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP alliance and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)-led opposition coalition have both claimed victory in recently-held Gram Panchayat elections.

Voting was held for 547 gram panchayats spread across 16 districts of the state on September 18. The results of local body election were announced on Sunday.

Congratulating party workers, Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP has become the "number 1 party" in Maharashtra again.

"Shiv Sena led by BJP and Chief Minister Eknathrao Shinde got resounding success in Gram Panchayat elections. BJP became the number 1 party again! Heartiest congratulations to all the winning candidates and all our @BJP4Maharashtra workers, office bearers who are striving for this success!" he tweeted in Marathi.

Speaking to ANI after the results were announced, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, "It is a verification stamp for our Shiv Sena and BJP alliance by the people of Maharashtra."

He also said that the victory is a mandate by the people that they have "accepted" the alliance between the two parties. "It also clears that we're not the Shinde faction only but we are the real Shiv Sena and people have accepted our alliance where we have won more than 300 panchayats. We will contest together in upcoming polls too," he said.

Shinde along with a group of rebel MLAs revolted against the Shiv Sena leadership in June which led to the collapse of the MVA government. He later formed government in the state by joining hands with the BJP.

The opposition MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, however, claimed that they won the rural polls.

NCP state president Jayant Patil said, "As there are no party symbols allotted for the gram panchayat polls by the Election Commission, so everyone can claim victory. There is no truth in BJP-Shinde faction claims but on the contrary, the real fact is that NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress, means MVA has won the elections for gram panchayat with a clear majority over BJP Shinde faction.”

According to the MVA, the BJP won 144 seats, and Shinde-led Sena camp 41. They claimed, NCP won 126 seats, Congress 62 and Thackeray's Shiv Sena 37.

Latest News