Municipal Council elections: Congress, NCP reign supreme

Mumbai, Nov 20 (UNI) Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have maintained the number one and number two positions respectively in the municipal council elections, results of which started coming in today.

Elections to 165 municipal councils in the state were held yesterday.

According to official sources, results of around 3500 seats from 133 municipal councils have become available so far. The Congress has won 900 seats, NCP has won 832, independents have bagged 576 seats, while local fronts have secured 486 seats. The Shiv Sena and BJP have won 354 and 244 seats respectively so far.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam resigned as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly owning moral responsibility for his party's defeat in the Khed civic body where the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has won four seats.

Results from twelve municipal councils is still awaited, while the counting in 20 other municipal councils will be taken up tomorrow. In two municipal councils, the candidates had been elected unopposed.

Reacting to the election results, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said various schemes launched for urban development and for providing housing to the poor, had ensured the Congress victory.

NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said his party's victory in Konkan and elsewhere shows the party has improved its position in both rural and urban belts.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, while congratulating his party candidates who have got elected, said the MNS has just ''opened its account.'' Dubbed as mini Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena and the BJP, despite their alliance at 122 places, could not fare well. State BJP general secretary Vinod Tavade said the BJP has improved its tally and the party will have over 500 councillors and control over 27 councils after the final results become available.

He admitted that the local issues were more important in these elections rather than the Opposition's allegation that the state government had proved to be a failure.

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