Maharashtra: Panels backed by Shinde camp's minister, MLA lose gram panchayat polls

Mumbai: The panels backed by Maharashtra ministers Uday Samant and MLA Bharat Gogawale from the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have suffered defeat in the gram panchayat polls in their native villages.

Besides, the ruling BJP won three gram panchayats in Sindhudurg, the home district of School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar who is also a member of the Shinde group, while the fourth one was bagged by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction, sources said on Tuesday.

The results of the elections held on Sunday for 1,079 gram panchayats were declared on Monday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday claimed to have won a maximum of 397 seats and said along with the CM Shinde-led 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena', the joint rally has reached 478.

But, in Ratnagiri, the native place of state Industries Minister Samant, people in three gram panchayats - Shirgaon, Phansop and Pomendi Budruk - voted in favour of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and its allies.

In Raigad's Kaleej-Kharavali village, the native place of Shinde faction's chief whip Gogawale, the panel backed by him won 10 seats while the Thackeray camp along with the NCP bagged 11 seats and came to power.