The ruling MahaYuti on Monday claimed to have swept the gram panchayat election in the state. The ruling alliance of the BJP, the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar) said it had won as many as 1,335 gram panchayats out of the 2,369 that went to polls on Sunday.
State Congress chief challenges ruling alliance's claims
State Congress chief Nana Patole challenged the ruling alliance’s claims and said its figures were incorrect. He said the Congress had won 721 seats while the MVA had emerged victorious in 1,312 gram panchayats. Interestingly, the NCP faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar achieved huge success, winning nearly 400 seats.
It won 13 of the 15 gram panchayats in the Pawar clan’s ancestral home of Katewadi, while snaring 27 of the 31 seats in Baramati. BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said that his party had won 654 seats, the Ajit Pawar group 392 seats, and the Shinde faction 289 seats. The Congress had won 271 seats and Uddhav Thackeray's group only 110 seats, he claimed.
Results were indicative of the mood of the people
While gram panchayat elections are not fought on any party symbol, the results are considered an indicator of the mood in the rural hinterlands. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, reacting to the results, said rural voters had rejected all those who had betrayed the thoughts of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. He said the results were indicative of the mood of the people.
