BJP routed in RSS bastion, Nagpur Zilla Parishad

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine handed a humiliating defeat to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections to the prestigious Nagpur Zilla Parishad -- the home turf of Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- officials said here on Wednesday.

Of the total 58 seats for which polls were held, the Congress bagged 31, the NCP 10, while the BJP managed only 14 seats.

The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi ally Shiv Sena chose to contest alone and had to be content with just one seat, while two seats were won by Independents in the prestigious local body.

The elections for the 58 Zilla Parishad seats and 116 Panchayat Samitis were held on January 7 and the results were declared on Wednesday.

Even in the Panchayat Samiti polls, there was a shock in store for the BJP as Congress' Mahendra Dongre bagged the seat in Dhapewada -- the native village of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Congress' Nana Kambale dealt another blow by bagging the Koradi seat -- the hometown for former BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Salil A. Deshmukh, the son of NCP's state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, won from Metpanjara while another senior NCP ex-minister Ramesh Bang's son Dinesh R. Bang bagged the Hingna seat.

The Nagpur Zilla Parishad and many other local bodies were under the control of the BJP-Sena when they were allies, till the Sena joined the MVA with Congress-NCP in November 2019.

Besides Nagpur, the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections were held in Palghar, Akola, Nandurbar, Washim and Dhule, official results of which are awaited.IANS