BJP has emerged as the single largest party across the 12 Zilla Parishads Election by winning 225 seats, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party is the second largest with 165 seats. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena is just 3 seats behind with 162 seats. Together, the
Mahayuti has won 552 of 719 seats in the 12 Zilla Parishads Election. The final results for the Satara District for 12 seats are awaited.
The figures are worrying for the Opposition alliance. The Congress with 55, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena with 43, and Sharad Pawar's NCP with 26 seats failed to cross the 150 mark together.
The Congress claimed that it has come to power in two Zilla Parishads and is expecting to be part of the ruling arrangement in two others, even though it had contested the election independently. The party said it has comfortable numbers in Kolhapur and Latur.
The election, originally scheduled for February 5, was postponed after the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash and the subsequent three days of state mourning. It was finally held on February 7. Altogether 2,624 candidates were in fray for the Zilla Parishad polls, and 4,814 for the Panchayat Samiti elections.
The elections covered 12 Zilla Parishads - Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv and Latur to elect 731 members, along with 1,462 seats in 125 panchayat samitis in their jurisdiction.
The turnout was 68.28% per cent. The voters had to cast two votes -- one for the Zilla Parishad constituency and another for the Panchayat Samiti electoral division. White ballot papers were used for Zilla Parishad elections, and pink ballot papers for Panchayat Samiti elections.
The counting began at 10 am today.
The results are expected to shape the future course for the NCP factions of late Ajit Pawar and party founder Sharad Pawar. The two factions had set aside their two-year rivalry to contest these local body polls in an informal alliance in Pune, Satara, Solapur and Sangli, with candidates from both sides contesting under the original 'clock' symbol.
Last month, they had also joined hands for the elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation.
(With PTI)
