JOIN USNotwithstanding the scams and corruption charges surrounding its leaders, the Congress swept the Nanded Municipal Corporation elections by winning 41 out of 81 seats.
The results declared on Monday, a day after the elections were held, showed a dismal performance by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which managed to grab just two seats.
The other two major contenders –the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena – saved their faces by winning 10 and 14 seats respectively. The independents and local parties took the rest of the seats.
Interestingly, the Congress, despite sharing power with the NCP at the state level, refused to bring the Democratic Front alliance in the local polls. The unexpected victory of the Congress has once again brought the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who led the party to polls, to the forefront.
In a statement issued here, Chavan stated: “The credit for the win goes to party workers. It was purely because of teamwork.”
Chavan’s poll strategy in his home constituency was simple: Focussing on converting Nanded into a regional headquarter.
Since the past few decades, Nanded has witnessed a massive growth, from a small town known for a Sikh pilgrimage centre to a commercial urban landscape.
The victory in corporation elections has also consolidated Chavan’s position in the party which has been looking for a leader to fill the void created by the demise of Vilasrao Deshmukh.