Surprising win for BJP in Pune, Nashik

The BJP has made surprising and significant gains in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur and Nashik.

The Shiv Sena has, however, managed to save its bastion of Thane, where it jumped into electoral politics in 1967.

At the time of going to the press, the counting process and compilation by the state Election Commission was underway. The other corporations that went to polls were Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.

As per the latest reports, in Thane, the Shiv Sena won 66 of the 131 seats followed by the NCP (31), BJP (21), Congress (3) and others (4).

In Pune (148 seats) and the neighbouring industrial and IT township of Pimpri-Chinchwad (128 seats), the BJP emerged victorious by defeating the NCP in the stronghold of its supremo Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar.

The BJP won the Pune Municipal Corporation with 89 seats, while  the NCP, which held power for over a decade, won 44. The Shiv Sena bagged 10 seats, followed by the Congress (16) and MNS (6).

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP surged with 58 seats, while the ruling NCP won 29 seats in the 128-member house. In Ulhasnagar, the BJP grabbed 32 and the Shiv Sena won 25 of the total 78 seats. The NCP bagged four, Congress 1 and independents and others won 16.

The BJP seat in Nagpur remained with the saffron party as it bagged 91 of the 151 seats while the Congress won 23. The NCP bagged one seat at the time of filing this report.

Nagpur happens to be the home town of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The RSS headquarters is also located here. In Nashik, the BJP took control of  the civic body by winning 67 seats out of the 112, the Shiv Sena won 35 while the ruling MNS got just three seats. The Congress and NCP fared better with six and five seats respectively.

The BJP was faring well in Amravati with wins in 44 out of the 87 seats followed by the Congress in 12 seats and Shiv Sena in seven. In Solapur Municipal Corporation, a traditional Congress bastion from where veteran leader Sushilkumar Shinde hails, the BJP appeared in a commanding position with leads in 25 out of 102 seats,followed by the Shiv Sena (10) and the Congress in six seats at the time of going to press.

In Akola, the BJP was leading in 20 out of the 80 seats, the Congress in 10 and the MNS in 5, while the others bagged 10 seats.