Nagpur: Counting for 123 out of 129 Gram Panchayat’s elections in Nagpur district were held on Thursday. Tough fight was witnessed at all the places between Congress and BJP supported candidates. 6 Gram Panchayats witnessed unopposed elections. 165 candidates in 13 tehsils were elected unopposed.
In the five districts of Vidarbha where panchayat polls were held – Nagpur, Chandrapur, Akola, Buldhana and Washim — Congress, NCP and their allies have the upper hand. The number of seats won by each party is not known because panchayat elections are not contested on party symbols. Every party inflates the number of panchayats they have won. Besides, there are a large number of local fronts that have bagged many panchayats.
BJP in Kamptee tehsil saw outstanding performance due to efforts by sitting MLA and guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
Congress was swept away in the Bawankule’s native village Koradi. After the results were announced the winning candidates took out a rally and thanked the public for their support. The party workers celebrated the win by distributing sweets and by smearing gulal on each other.
Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has received a jolt in the gram panchayat elections as BJP has won only five seats out of 12 in his constituency town Ballarpur. This fiasco apart, BJP’s performance in Ballarpur assembly constituency is good with the party winning 69 out of 90 seats.
In Nagpur district, Congress and NCP have won more seats than the saffron combine. Congress district president Sunita Gawande claimed that the party had won between 60 and 65 panchayats out of the total 129 that went to polls. According to an aide of NCP ex-minister Anil Deshmukh, the party has won 17 seats. Shiv Sena MP Krupal Tumane claimed his party had bagged 39 gram panchayats while BJP could not offer any figure. BJP had won 11 out of 12 assembly seats in the district in the 2014 assembly elections.
Narkhed Tehsil
In Narkhed tehsil elections were held for 14 gram panchayats. BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 12 out of 14 gram panchayats seats here.
Bhiwapur tehsil
In Bhiwapur tehsil elections were held for 3 gram panchayats. Congress supported candidates won all the 3 gram panchayats here.The Mokheburdi (ward-3) seat is vacant due to no candidate of SC (Women) reserved seat. This was informed by election officer and tehsildar Sheetal kumar Yadav.
Saoner tehsil
In Saoner tehsil elections were held in 11 gram panchayats. The election for Jatamkhora gram panchayat was held unopposed. Only the congress supported candidate had filed nomination here.
Katol tehsil
In Katol tehsil elections were held in 3 gram panchayats. The NCP supported candidates dominated the election here.
Mauda tehsil
The elections were held at 7 Gram Panchayats of the Mauda tehsil. In the Narsala and Morgaon Gram Panchayats, a panel supporting Shiv Sena won by winning 9 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won in Dudhala region. BJP won in Mohadi and Dharmapuri followed by a win by a panel supporting Indian National Congress at Sirsoli.
Kalmeshwar tehsil
The elections were held in 5 Gram Panchayats of Kalmeshwar tehsil in which panel supporting Indian National Congress won at 4 and Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate won at 1.
Kuhi tehsil
The Gram Panchayat elections were held in Kuhi tehsil in 24 panchayat regions excluding Rajola. The vote counting was held at a local Tehsil office. The election results were declared on Thursday afternoon.
Umred tehsil
In Umred Tehsil, the elections were held in 14 Gram Panchayat. A Congress led panel claimed victory at 11 Gram Panchayat out of 14. BJP wins in the rest.
Amidst heavy police bandobast, the vote counting were held at Kamptee Tehsil where the elections were held at at 9 Gram Panchayat area.
Hingna tehsil
The elections were held in 4 Gram Panchayats of Hingna tehsil in which BJP, NCP and Congress had claimed victory. The BJP has claimed win over 6 out of 9 Gram Panchayats in Kamptee tehsil. The former BJP Zilla Parishad member Anil Nidhan informed that BJP has successfully won all the 17 seats in Koradi and 9 in Pawangaon (out of which 8 were elected unopposed) . Nidhan got tremedous success by winning 58 out of 87 gram panchayat seats. In Mahalgaon it won 9 out of 11 seats including Lonkheri, Khedi, Kesori gram panchayat seats.
It may be mentioned here that gram panchayat elections are not fought on party symbols.
Congress fared well at Temsana, Bhamewada and Ghorpad gram panchayat polls. According to Congress leaders the congress candidates won Temsana and Bhamewada gram panchayat seats. Congress has achieved huge success in Ghorpad gram panchayat too. Five candidates from koradi made a record of securing more than 500 votes at the tehsil level.
In 9 panchayats of the tehsil, 13 candidates out of the 87 were elected unopposed. After this the sarpanch elections will heat up. Acording toinformation, most of the sarpanch posts in gram panchayat are reserved for women candidates. However, no directions or order in this regard has been issued by the district collectorate office.
Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha (rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com)
