BHARATIYA Janata Party (BJP), on Monday, claimed thumping victory in the elections to 361 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Nagpur district. According to BJP leaders, the party candidates won the post of Sarpanch in 237 out of 361 GPs in the district. However, Congress claimed that it had emerged victorious in 223 GPs. According to Sudhakar Kohale, District (Rural) President of BJP, the party has won as many as 1,821 out of total 3,005 GP members’ seats. Already, Sarpanch of five GPs were declared as elected unopposed. Of them, he claimed, four belong to BJP. Similarly, out of GP members elected unopposed, 14 belong to BJP, he added. “The stupendous success of BJP in GP elections could be attributed to the dynamic decision-making by the Mahayuti Government led by Eknath Shinde as Chief Minister, and Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Ministers. Besides, BJP State chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule followed up with the Government to make available funds to GPs”, he said. Rajendra Mulak, former minister and District President of Congress party, claimed that BJP had faced ‘massive defeat’ and that Congress party as well as Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had registered a‘thumping’ victory in Nagpur district. According to Mulak’s statement, MVA had won total 223 GPs of which Congress had won at 137, NCP (Sharad Pawar) at 84, and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) at two.

 

Whereas, he added, Mahayuti had won at 116 including BJP at 105, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) at 10, and NCP (Ajit Pawar) at one GP. Besides, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had won at three, Gondwana Gantantra Party at three, Bahujan Samaj Party at two, and Independents at 15 seats. Sudhakar Kohale shared different statistics with mediapersons. According to him, BJP had won 237 seats of Sarpanch out of 361, and 1,821 of members out of total 3,005 seats. In support of his claims, he shared Assembly segment-wise statistics of BJP’s victory as follows: Umred segment -- BJP wins 58 out of 84 seats of Sarpanch and 445 out of 680 seats of  members; Katol -- 59 of 83 Sarpanch and 403 of 651 members; Kamptee -- 31 of 42 Sarpanch and 243 of 346 members; Ramtek -- 27 of 52 Sarpanch and 233 of 476 members; Saoner -- 25 of 47 Sarpanch and 200 of 383 members; Hingna -- 38 of 53 Sarpanch and 297 of 469 members. Anil Deshmukh, former minister and senior leader of NCP (Sharad Pawar), claimed that his party dominated the results of GP elections in Katol and Narkhed tehsils, which together constitute Katol segment of State Legislative Assembly. According to him, his party won 68 out of 83 GPs in the segment.

 

In a press statement issued in Nagpur, Bawankule stated that BJP and BJP-supported candidates had won more than 1,700 seats of Sarpanch in the elections to 2,359 GPs in Maharashtra. “We have wrested 60 per cent of the GPs that were earlier with Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav). Congress has suffered a big dent in GP elections,” he stated. Nana Patole, President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, however, countered Bawankule’s claim. He claimed that Congress had emerged winner in 721 GPs and Maha Vikas Aghadi had won 1,321 GPs in the State. He accused BJP of making false claims.