“Our party is number 1 in Mumbai,” said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday showcased an impressive performance by winning 82 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and majorly gaining in elections held for other municipal bodies.
The Shiv Sena finished on top of a hung BMC but the BJP said it could take control of India’s richest civic body with the backing of independents. Sena finished with just 84 of the 227 seats.
BJP emerged as the big winner by conquering Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Akola, Amravati, Solapur, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Ulhasnagar. As it put up a sterling performance in civic polls across Maharashtra including the cash-rich BMC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Maharashtra for reposing their faith in the “politics of development” and “good governance”.
Elated over BJP’s performance in Maharashtra civic polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said BJP’s victory resulted from a vote for transparency and demonetisation. Apart from Mumbai, the municipal corporations which went to the polls were Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati, and Nagpur.
Shiv Sena 84, BJP 82. In the nail-biting finish that a T20 cricket match delivers, the BJP is now just two seats behind the Shiv Sena in Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, dominated by the latter for 20 years.
The BJP is also set to win eight out of the nine other major Maharashtra municipalities where elections were held this week. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP, who led from the front, is clearly Man of the Match.
Here are the 10 developments in this big story: “It is an unprecedented victory, I thank the people of Maharashtra. This is a vote for transparency,” said Mr Fadnavis at the Mumbai BJP’s office in Dadar East. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership for the party’s performance.
The PM in a tweet later said, “Thank the people of Maharashtra for reposing faith in BJP. I congratulate the entire team of BJP Maharashtra and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for working tirelessly among people.”
“Our party is number 1 in Mumbai,” said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. The Shiv Sena is set to be the single largest party by a whisker but will fall short of majority at 114 seats in the 227-seat BMC.
It is the BJP’s best ever showing in the BMC elections. It had won 31 seats five years ago. The Congress, which was second in the last election with 52 seats, will settle for only 31. Sharad Pawar’s NCP has won seven, Raj Thackeray’s MNS six.
While the Sena has ruled out taking the BJP’s support and its chief Uddhav Thackeray maintained today the mayor will be from his party, Mr Fadnavis said the BJP’s core committee would decide “what we need to do in Mumbai,” adding, “we will respect the people’s aspirations.”
“We are not foes,” the chief minister said when asked about Mr Thackeray’s unbridled attacks on him and his party after he broke ties with the BJP ahead of the civic polls.
This year’s BMC election was seen as a prestige battle for both Mr Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray, who has threatened to withdraw from the central and state governments led by the BJP after the civic polls.
Mr Thackeray called off the alliance after the two parties failed to agree on seats sharing for the BMC elections. The Sena has been a bitter ally ever since it lost political space with the BJP dominating the last national and assembly elections to redefine itself as the senior partner in the alliance after years of playing junior.
The BJP has wrested Pune today from the NCP and is ahead in Pune, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Akola, Amarawati, Nagpur, Solapur and Ulhasnagar. The Shiv Sena is ahead in Mumbai and its suburb Thane.
In the first round of civic elections held late last year and early this year, the BJP was the major gainer, making significant inroads in the Congress and NCP’s traditional strongholds in rural Maharashtra. The BMC, Asia’s richest civic body, has an annual budget of Rs. 37,000 crore, more than that of some states.
