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Not even one chairperson seat for BJP in Nagpur panchayat samiti pollsNagpur is significant for BJP as top leaders hail from the district
Mrityunjay Bose
DHNS
Last Updated IST
The BJP flag. Credit: DH File Photo
The BJP flag. Credit: DH File Photo

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a significant blow in Nagpur, where it could not win a single seat in the elections to the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of Panchayat Samitis.

The BJP lost to Congress in the biggest city of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, which is also the headquarters of the party’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Nagpur is significant for BJP, as top leaders including Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and BJP’s state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule hail from the district.

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The results assume significance in the wake of the fact that the BJP came to power in the state only after it supported the Shiv Sena’s rebel faction, led by Eknath Shinde, now known as Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.

On the other hand, the erstwhile ruling coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi, decided to contest the panchayat samiti elections as individual parties—Shiv Sena (now Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.

Of the 13 seats of chairpersons, Congress won nine, followed by the three won by the NCP, and Thackeray’s Shiv Sena got one.

According to reports, the Congress won the chairperson’s post in Saoner, Kalmeshwar, Parseoni, Mouda, Kamptee, Umred, Bhiwapur, Kuhi and Nagpur Rural.

On the other hand, the NCP won the chairperson’s seats of Katol, Narkhed and Hingna.

The Shiv Sena won the chairperson’s post in Ramtek.