Days after the formation of the new government, the BJP and the CM Eknath Shinde camp hit a century by winning over 100 seats in the elections to the 271 gram panchayat elections held on August 4. Of the 271 gram panchayats, BJP emerged on top by winning 82 followed by the Shinde camp in 40 plus gram panchayats. However, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena emerged victorious in 27-gram panchayats.
The opposition Nationalist Congress party-led panel won 53 gram panchayats while 24 were won by Congress. These elections were held in the absence of the 27% political reservation to the Other Backward Classes. Also, there was no Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress as they fought these polls independently.
In his first reaction, CM Eknath Shinde, who met 50 legislators including 39 from Shiv Sena and 10 independents, said, ‘’The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has performed well in the 271 gram panchayat without any major preparations. I congratulate the winners, the party workers and the voters.’’
On the other hand, the state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil claimed that BJP has emerged as the number one party in these elections. ‘’In the election to the 271 Gram Panchayats, BJP has secured the undisputed number one position and the party has maintained the tradition of being number one in the elections. The BJP- Shiv Sena alliance is far ahead of its rival parties when it comes to the victory achieved by the Shiv Sainiks under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. We congratulate Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for this achievement. This is the first local body election held after the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government came to power after the change of power in the state and the people have favoured the alliance,’’ he said.
In Aurangabad, where the Shinde camp has a dominant position, it has won 12 seats in Wadgaon Kolhati gram panchayat against the Thackeray faction while in Sillod the Shinde camp bagged all three-gram panchayats. In Paithan taluka, the Shinde camp won 6 of the total 7 gram panchayats.
