Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Friday termed the poll result in Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP), where the BJP was ousted from power by the Congress, as"sensational and shocking".
Polling for six ZPs in Maharashtra - Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Dhule, Nandurbar and Palghar (332 seats) - and the Panchayat Samitis (664 seats) falling in their jurisdiction were held on Tuesday and results were declared on Wednesday.
The BJP lost control of the ZP in Nagpur, the home district of party stalwarts Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari.
The BJP won just 15 of the 58 seats in Nagpur ZP, where the Congress bagged a handsome tally of 30, while its ally the NCP pocketed 10.
An editorial in 'Saamana', a mouthpiece of the ruling Shiv Sena, pointed out that except Dhule, the BJP suffered defeat in the remaining five district councils.
In these five districts, the Congress, the NCP, the Shiv Sena and Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) have done "very well", the Marathi daily said.
The editorial said the BJP's defeat in the home turf of Fadnavis, a former chief minister, and Gadkari, a Union minister, was "sensational and shocking" and the outcome shows the rural population was "fed up" with the party.
"The Congress had performed well in the assembly elections in Nagpur (held in October) and now it has wrested the district council from the BJP," the Sena publication said.
The paper said in Nandurbar and elsewhere, if the Congress had fought the polls in alliance with the Shiv Sena, the BJP would have been "finished".
The Sena is in power in Maharashtra in alliance with the Congress and the NCP.
In 56-member Nandurbar ZP, both Congress and the BJP won 23 seats each, while the Sena, which had no presence earlier in the council, bagged seven.
"No party can get power in the district council without the support of the Shiv Sena. The anger of losing power in Nandurbar was so much that BJP goons attacked Sena party office in Akkalkua," the paper noted.
However, despite losing in Nagpur, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in these ZP polls, winning 109 of the 332 seats on offer.
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