Sena-BJP combine retains top position in BMC

MUMBAI,February18 2012: The failure to dislodge the Sena-BJP from the BMC came as a shock to the Congress-NCP combine; the two ruling front partners in Maharashtra entered into an electoral alliance for the first time in local elections in Mumbai. They were confident of trouncing the saffron partners, with the help of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Elections to 10 civic bodies in Maharashtra were held on Thursday. The MNS, floated by Raj, the estranged nephew of Bal Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena, managed to win 29 seats in the 227-seat BMC. In contrast, the Shiv Sena won 75 seats and its partners, the BJP (30) and the Republican Party of India (one) helped it emerge as the single-largest group. However, they failed to breach the half-way mark of 114.The saffron partners also succeeded in retaining control of the Thane Municipal Corporation, where they won 62 seats, slightly short of the 65, half-way mark. The MNS could win just seven seats, whereas the Congress-NCP won 52 seats.In Pune, of the 152 seats the NCP won 45 (though its sitting mayor, Mohansingh Rajpal, lost to his BJP rival), and the Congress won an additional 20 seats. The MNS did remarkably well, winning 24 seats, whereas the Shiv Sena could manage just nine. The BJP won 20 seats in Pune.The NCP had got the help of the BJP during the previous five-year term and had taken control of the civic body. This time too, the Congress and the NCP fought separately in Pune and were not in an alliance.In the neighbouring city of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the NCP won 83 seats in the 128-member civic body, wresting full control of the corporation. The Congress won just 14 seats, the Shiv Sena-BJP ally 18 and the MNS four.In Nashik, the Congress-NCP and the MNS were almost equal, though counting was continuing late into the evening. Even in Nagpur, where counting was on in the evening, the BJP won 38 of the 76 seats for which results were out.  The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance on Friday managed to retain control of India’s richest civic body, the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), though they failed to win a clear majority. However, with the aid of independents, they are expected to stay in power for the next five years.