Maha: Blow to BJP as Congress sweeps Panchayat Samiti polls in Nagpur

Nagpur: In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress dominated the results of elections to the posts of Panchayat Samiti chairpersons and deputy chairpersons in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.

As per the official information, the BJP could not win even a single post of chairperson and managed to secure only three seats of deputy chairperson in the elections, results of which were declared on Saturday – on the same day of voting.

Nagpur district is the home turf of the BJP’s current chief of Maharashtra unit Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Nagpur also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP that is currently in power in the state and at the Centre.

The Congress won nine out of 13 posts of chairperson and eight out of 13 posts of deputy chairperson in the district. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured three posts of chairperson, while the Shiv Sena managed to win one such post, the district officials said.

The Congress won the chairperson’s post in Saoner, Kalmeshwar, Parseoni, Mouda, Kamptee, Umred, Bhivapur, Kuhi and Nagpur Rural. The NCP won the post in Katol, Narkhed and Hingna, and the Shiv Sena won the Ramtek chairperson’s post, they said.

The Ramtek seat was bagged the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde named ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’, sources said.

Talking to PTI, former minister and Congress rural unit chief Rajendra Mulak said, “The Panchayat Samiti results have demoralised the BJP cadre, as the party faced a defeat on the home ground of the RSS and senior leaders Nitin Gadkari, Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrashekar Bawankule.” “Winning and losing keeps happening, but the way they have lost shows that the BJP cadre has no grip in the district,” the Congress leader said.

Elections to the posts of sarpanch and members of gram panchayats were held on Sunday and results will be declared on Monday.

Similarly, polling and counting for the posts of president and vice-president Zilla Parishads will be held on Monday, officials said.