The BJP is leading in the municipal corporation polls in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region in the initial rounds of counting that began on Friday morning.
Polling was held in the four civic bodies comprising Nagpur, Chandrapur, Akola and Amravati, along with 25 others across the state on Thursday. Nagpur is home to big leaders like Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Of the 151 seats in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, the BJP was leading in 74, followed by Congress in 22 and Shiv Sena (UBT) in 2, as per early trends. In the Akola civic body, the BJP took the lead in 35 of the 80 seats, while the Congress candidates were ahead in 15 seats. Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was leading in 8 seats, followed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s NCP in seven electoral wards.
Congress’ Maha Vikas Aghadi partners NCP (SP), headed by Sharad Pawar, and Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray were leading in four and three seats, respectively.
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In the Amravati Municipal Corporation, which has 87 electoral wards, the BJP was leading in 13, the NCP in seven and Congress in five. The Yuva Swabhiman Party of MLA Ravi Rana was leading in two seats.
A few days before polling, the BJP had officially ended its alliance with Rana’s party, claiming that it went against their pact and fielded its own candidates in several wards.
As per early trends in Chandrapur, the BJP is leading in six seats, the Sena (UBT) in seven, Congress in two and NCP in one. Chandrapur civic body has 66 seats.