SS-BJP retains Aurangabad, NCP strengthens base in Marathwada

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Mar 12 (UNI) The Saffron alliance retained the Aurangabad Zilla Parishad (ZP) by winning 34 of the total 60 seats.

Results from five wards are yet to be become available. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which contested independently, has won a large number of ZP and panchayat samiti seats in Marathwada, according to the provisional results available with the divisional headquarters.

In Aurangabad, the Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party by winning 23 seats. The BJP has won eight seats here, while the NCP has bagged 13 seats and the Congress ten seats.

The Congress has retained the Zilla Parishad at Latur which is the home turf of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, winning 31 out of the 58 seats. The NCP has only five seats here. The BJP has bagged 18 seats and the Shiv Sena four. In the outgoing Latur Zilla Parishad, the Congress had 28 seats, NCP - 7, BJP - 15, a local front had four seats, Shiv Sena - 3 and one independent.

In Beed, which is the home district of senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, the BJP is poised to retain its hold. Results of 46 seats have become available from the 60-member Beed Zilla Parishad of which BJP has won 22, Shiv Sena 3, Congress 4, NCP 12, a local front has bagged three seats while the group led by MLA Dhas has bagged 2 seats so far.

In the 64-member Nanded Zilla Parishad, Congress has emerged as the single largest party by winning 23 seats, followed by the NCP (12), Shiv Sena (14), BJP (8) and independents (6). The result of one seat is yet to be declared.

The NCP is poised to emerge as the single largest party in the 52-member Parbhani Zilla Parishad. Forty-five results have been declared so far of which the NCP has won 22, Congress (10), Shiv Sena (12) and the BJP 1. The outgoing Parbhani Zilla Parishad had an understanding between the Congress and the Shiv Sena, which ruled it jointly for five years with each party enjoying the presidentship for a two-and-half year term. The outgoing body had 21 Sena members, BJP (4), NCP (16) and Congress (8) and three others.

In Hingoli, the NCP and Congress combine has won a total of 25 seats with the Congress bagging 13 seats and the NCP twelve. The Sena has won 21 seats and the BJP only one seat. Three seats have gone to the independents.

UNI