Maha: Blow to BJP as Congress sweeps Panchayat Samiti polls in Nagpur

In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress dominated the results of elections to the posts of Panchayat Samiti chairpersons and deputy chairpersons in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.

As per the official information, the BJP could not win even a single post of chairperson and managed to secure only three seats of deputy chairperson in the elections, results of which were declared on Saturday – on the same day of voting. Nagpur district is the home turf of the BJPs current chief of Maharashtra unit Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Nagpur also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP that is currently in power in the state and at the Centre. The Congress won nine out of 13 posts of chairperson and eight out of 13 posts of deputy chairperson in the district. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured three posts of chairperson, while the Shiv Sena managed to win one such post, the district officials said.

The Congress won the chairpersons post in Saoner, Kalmeshwar, Parseoni, Mouda, Kamptee, Umred, Bhivapur, Kuhi and Nagpur Rural. The NCP won the post in Katol, Narkhed and Hingna, and the Shiv Sena won the Ramtek chairpersons post, they said. The Ramtek seat was bagged the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde named Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, sources said. Talking to

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