The BJP has emerged as the leading party in the Maharashtra gram panchayat elections, with the Shiv Sena a close second, tentative results showed on Monday, 18 January.
Of the 11,800 gram panchayats whose results were declared till late on Monday, the BJP is said to have won 2,600, followed by Shiv Sena at 2,570, Nationalist Congress Party at 2,400, Congress at 1,825, and Independents and local panels at 2,335.
The polls were held for 1,25,709 seats, with 2,14,880 candidates in the fray.
The elections for many of the gram panchayats were due at various points in 2020, but were postponed in view of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown in the state.
Polls for 162 gram panchayats in Gadchiroli are scheduled to be held on 20 January.
Meanwhile, both the rival political forces of the state – the BJP and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – claimed victory in the elections.
The election was being seen as a litmus test for the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress MVA government, led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
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