Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has won 145 Gram Panchayat seats in 14 districts in the recently held elections to 12,711 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra. AAP had contested 300 seats in these districts and also four panels in Dapkyal village in Latur district, Betech and Marora villages in the Naxal affected Gadchiroli district and Gunjegaon village in Solapur district.
AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon said, “In a dream debut, AAP's final tally in the Gram Panchayat stands at 145 members, including entire panels in 3 villages, 1 in Latur and 2 in Gadchiroli, besides the panel we had already won in Solapur. This win is remarkable considering the fact that we fielded less than 300 candidates making our strike rate 50%.” She noted that the political status quo is clearly unsustainable in Maharashtra and the AAP has emerged as a political force to reckon with.
Of the 145 seats AAP won, Hingoli (11), Latur (5), Jalna (4), Solapur (11), Gadchiroli (29), Nagpur (6), Washim (1), Yavatmal (41), Buldhana (18), Chandrapur (10), Bhandara (3), Palghar (2), Nashik (1) and Ahmednagar (3).
“It is noteworthy that the party has made substantial inroads in all regions of the state and AAP's surge was powered by women, as in AAP women leaders have a place in their own right and are not dummy candidates. Notably, Vidarbha's Yavatmal District, which has seen the highest number of recorded farmer suicides in the state, contributed a whopping 41 seats,” said Preeti Sharma Menon. She added that AAP is now set to grow its footprint by contesting forthcoming Zilla Parishad and Municipal elections this year with like-minded people and parties.
