Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena on Thursday finished neck-to-neck and were engaged in a tussle on Thursday to control India's richest and biggest civic body, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation.
The BJP won 82 seats in the fiercely fought BMC polls, just two seats behind the estranged saffron ally, but both were well short of the magic figure of 114 needed to control the civic body.
The hung verdict will reset the political calculations as no party is in the position to rule the country's richest civic body on its own and alliance seems inevitable.
However, it is not yet clear whether the saffron allies, who share power both in Maharashtra and at the Centre, will get back together or new combinations will emerge.
In the counting of votes held today, the Congress was relegated to the third position with 31 seats, whereas the NCP and the Raj Thackeray's MNS were reduced to 9 and 7 seats, respectively.
AIMIM, which had made its maiden entry into the Maharashtra Assembly with two seats in the last polls, won three seats on debut in the BMC elections, Samajwadi Party six, Akhil Bhartiya Sena one and Independents four.
The results came as a shot in the arm for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who spearheaded the BJP's campaign with focus on transparency.
Congratulations & Thank You to people of #Mumbai & Maharashtra for showing faith in #BJP led State & Central Govt.#ParivartanHonarach
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
This is a historical win in true sense.
Our success in ZP elections is also remarkable. And BJP won seats for the first time at many places— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
This is victory is of Hon PM @narendramodi ji's vision & BJP's agenda of transparency.
I dedicate this victory to the people of Maharashtra.— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
The number of seats we (BJP) alone won in Maharashtra's Municipal Corporations is equal to sum of all seats of all parties.@BJP4India
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
Congratulations to all karyakartas who worked day in day out to make this victory possible, State President, MPs, MLAs & my colleagues.
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
Special applaud to @MumbaiBJP led by President @ShelarAshish ,MPs,MLAs & salutes to all karyakartas who have slogged for party for decades
— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 23, 2017
The BJP also came out with flying colours in other municipal corporations and local bodies.
Ten municipal corporations, 25 Zilla Parishads and 283 Panchayat Samitis went to polls on February 16 and 21.
The BJP's victory came as a major morale-booster for the party which is in the midst of gruelling Assembly polls in five states, including key battleground state of Uttar Pradesh, where it is pitted against strong opponents.
The calumny-filled campaign for control of BMC had even cast a shadow on the stability of the state government, with the Sena threatening to walk out and putting the government on notice.
In the outgoing civic body, Sena had 89 seats, BJP 32, Congress 51, NCP 14, SP 8, MNS 28, PWP 1, and Independents 4.
The Sena has controlled the BMC for the last two decades with the BJP remaining a junior partner. Sena's gamble to go alone in its bastion appeared to have failed to pay off.
Earlier, on a day of fluctuating fortunes, the initial trends put the Sena ahead in close to 100 seats, prompting the analysts to predict that it would a smooth road to power for the Uddhav Thackeray's party with the support of a few independents or smaller entities.
As the counting progressed, the BJP surged ahead to notch up its highest-ever tally in the municipal body, whose annual budget surpasses even those of some smaller states. Last year's budget of BMC stood at Rs 37,052 crore.
With the Congress getting reduced to 31 seats, its city unit president Sanjay Nirupam, who had crossed swords with senior leader Gurdas Kamat ahead of the polls, offered to quit, owning responsibility for the rout.
The voters dealt a heavy blow to Raj Thackeray's MNS whose tally fell to mere 7 from 28 in 2012, primarily due to a huge consolidation of Marathi votes in favour of Shiv Sena.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP had during the campaign itself admitted that the party did not have much at stake in the megalopolis.
(With PTI inputs)
