PUNE: Not just Mumbai, BJP wrested two other cities — Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Thane — close to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray from the Thackerays as the party reaped gains in alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, while Congress won maximum seats — 324 — in the state among the MVA constituents and emerged as the single largest party in four municipal corporations.BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai and will lean on Shiv Sena to govern the country’s richest civic body, while it was just one short of the halfway mark in the 115-member house in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar that the Thackerays ruled for 30 years. BJP won 57 seats there and its Mahayuti ally Shiv Sena got 12, though they did not contest together. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena UBT) was reduced to six seats.
In Thane, the undivided Sena’s mayor had the last word for three decades. BJP is supporting Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which emerged as the clear winner there.
BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “The results from yesterday (Friday) were a finale of the events that began in 2019, when Uddhav himself shifted allegiance for the sake of the CM post. It disturbed all political equations in Maharashtra and this is the outcome. In electoral politics, the party or alliance with a majority is the winner.”Union home minister Amit Shah had famously said “BJP does not need crutches” but in 10 corporations, it will need support of its allies to govern the civic bodies. BJP is in majority in 14 corporations and will be able to get its mayor elected on its own.BJP won nearly half of the seats for which elections were held — 1,425 of 2,869 seats (49.7%) — in 29 municipal corporations, as per the state election commission’s data. Shiv Sena won 399 seats and Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged 155 across the state, as per the data.Among the MahaVikas Aghadi constituents, Congress emerged as the single largest party in Bhiwandi-Nizampura, Kolhapur, Latur and Chandrapur and finished second in Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Amravati, Nagpur, Akola and Mira-Bhayander municipal corporations. The party will govern the Latur and Chandrapur municipal corporations because it has a majority in these two civic bodies.In Kolhapur, it will have to sit in the opposition despite winning 34 out of 81 seats because the BJP-led alliance has secured a majority. Congress emerged as the single largest party in Bhiwandi-Nizampur too, winning 30 seats. BJP got 22 and Shiv Sena 12. Here too, neither Congress nor BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has crossed the halfway mark in the 90-member house. Post-poll alliances will determine who will govern the civic body.Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal said the party had emerged as the largest opposition party in the state. “Congress will have mayors in five cities, around 350 corporators, and will be part of the ruling setup in 10 places.”
