BJP claims victory in Nagpur district gram panchayat polls

Nagpur: Even though official statistics for gram panchayat polls were awaited till the time of filing this report, political parties have started staking claims based on the ground reports from their party workers in all rural areas. BJP’s Nagpur (rural) president, Arvind Gajbhiye, said, “Out of the 236 GPs which went to poll, BJP and allied panels have secured sarpanch posts in 131.”
This time around, the state government had decided to hold direct elections for sarpanch polls. Elections were held in 7,751 gram panchayats across the state on Sunday.
At the state level too, BJP claimed to have got the mandate. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena have got tremendous response from the people. In 3,029 gram panchayats, our sarpanchs were elected. The work we are doing under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, has been appreciated by voters. I would also like to congratulate our party’s state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. He worked hard for the success.”
In Nagpur’s Hingna taluka, BJP claimed to have done ‘exceedingly’ well. Sameer Meghe, BJP MLA from Hingna, said, “Out of 22 sarpanch posts here, we have won 14, including some very tough seats.”
In Ramtek, the assembly constituency of independent candidate Ashish Jaiswal, who has pledged support to the Shinde group, the BJP claimed to have done well. BJP’s Gajbhiye said, “In Ramtek, out of 43 sarpanch seats, our candidates have won 21. If we talk about elections of GP members, then out of 381 we have won 140 seats.”
In Kamptee assembly constituency, the former fiefdom of Bawankule, the party claims to have won 27 sarpanch posts out of 40. BJP also claimed to have made a dent into Saoner assembly constituency, the stronghold of Congress leader Sunil Kedar. BJP leaders said they have secured 30 out 59 sarpanch posts here. In Umred assembly constituency, where Congress’ Raju Parwe is the sitting MLA, the BJP could not perform as expected, its leaders said.

BJP: 2352 || Shiv Sena (Shinde): 801 || Shiv Sena (Thakre): 705 || Congress: 980 || NCP: 1,550 || Others: 1,281||
(Unofficial figures based on party inputs)