BJP, Maharshtra CM Eknath Shinde camp claim success in village polls

MUMBAI: The BJP and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena claimed success in elections to 271 of 28,813 gram panchayats in the state as results came in on Friday.
These elections had taken place without the OBC reservation. This was the first election after the change of government in the state and the results were declared on Friday.
"We faced polls to the gram panchayats without any preparation. We got good success along with the BJP. It shows our party activists worked hard," said CM Eknath Shinde.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted: "Even in the gram panchayat elections, BJP is the number 1 party. Shiv Sena under the leadership of chief minister Eknath Shinde and with BJP also performed very well, thank you very much!"
State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said it was the first election after the change of government in the state and the public had shown its preference for the alliance of the BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
According to reports, the BJP won in 82 gram panchayats, the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena in 40, the Uddhav Thackeray camp in the Shiv Sena in 27 gram panchayats, the NCP in 53 and the Congress in 22.
"It will be difficult to comment on the outcome of the polls since the elections are not contested on the party symbol and, as such, all the candidates are independents," NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said.