— Photo: PTI

BACK TO WINNING WAYS: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray with his son and party working president Udhav Thackaray at a press conference after winning the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, in Mumbai on Saturday.

MUMBAI: Detailed results of the elections to 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra reveal that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has lost a large number of the seats it won in the last election. In eight out of 10 municipal corporations, the total tally of seats won by the alliance is significantly lower than in 2002.

In Mumbai, the Shiv Sena-BJP's tally declined from 133 to 111, in Thane from 63 to 53, in Pune from 53 to 45, in Nashik from 60 to 40, in Pimpri-Chinchwad from 25 to 13, in Akola from 32 to 18, in Solapur from 40 to 24 (no alliance) and in Amravati from 37 to 26. The alliance gained only in Ulhasnagar where it improved from 19 to 27 and in Nagpur, where it won 63 seats as compared to 54 in the last election.

In view of the anti-incumbency factor, the Shiv Sena-BJP had expected a major setback in Mumbai and Thane where it had been in power for two and three terms respectively. Equally challenging was the departure of Mr. Narayan Rane who had campaigned hard to defeat Shiv Sena candidates and the split in the party caused by the exit of Raj Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena has a strong base amongst the Marathi-speaking people in Mumbai but the core of this base is the migrant community from the State's Konkan region. Mr. Rane who hails from the region had presumed that the Konkanis would desert the Shiv Sena and vote for his candidates. He had promised the Congress victory on the basis of this calculation.

Mr. Rane fielded 30 of his close supporters, mostly former Shiv Sainiks, on the Congress ticket and that too in the areas dominated by the Konkan-Marathis in Mumbai. But this community stuck to the Shiv Sena and Mr. Rane saw the defeat of 23 of his nominees. Elsewhere also the Rane factor did not work against the Shiv Sena. Similarly in Thane, only two Rane supporters won. For the Shiv Sena, the fact that the Rane factor did not work in Mumbai and Thane has been particularly satisfying.

A ploy that worked well for the Shiv Sena was its strategy to tackle the anti-incumbency factor. As many as 50 per cent of its sitting municipal councillors were denied the ticket and replaced by new candidates who had been handpicked on the basis of a survey. Those dropped included the former Mayor of Mumbai, Datta Dalvi. Such a step could have resulted in widespread rebellion. But the gamble, mostly attributed to party executive president Uddhav Thackeray paid off.

The Shiv Sena, however, could not neutralise entirely the impact of former Sainik Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). This party bagged seven seats and came second in 12 others in Mumbai. In Maharashtra, the MNS won 35 seats. In Nashik, its 12 seats will decide who rules that corporation.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) opened its account in Mumbai when its woman candidate from Dharavi won. The Samajwadi Party was also able to retain its minority support in the city by winning eight seats and the Republican Party of India (all factions) won three seats.

Unusual wins

The unusual wins were that of a consensus candidate in the Juhu-Andheri area, Adolf D'Souza, who was supported by a wide cross-section of citizens' groups.

He defeated his Congress party rival while the former gangster, now MLA, Arun Gawli managed to ensure the victory of his daughter and sister-in-law from wards within his Assembly constituency.

In Mumbai, although the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party were unable to pull off a victory, the Congress increased the number of seats it had won from 64 to 71. The NCP retained its seats. According to Mumbai NCP president and MLA Sachin Ahir, "In 50 to 60 wards Congress could have won if there had been an alliance and the NCP too could have won 15 more seats."

Apart from its inability to win in Mumbai, the Congress also lost the Nagpur municipal corporation where it had been in power for the last five years.

The Shiv Sena-BJP won 63 seats while the Congress declined from 50 to 33. The NCP also won only eight seats as compared to 12 in the previous election.

Mumbai Congress chief Gurudas Kamat accepted moral responsibility for his party's poor performance in the elections and resigned from his position.

Despite having lost several seats in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has been celebrating its victory in Mumbai with processions and meetings. "We know now that our base is intact in the face of the difficult situation, we can work to build further on it with a view to challenging the Congress-NCP in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due after two years," said Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari at a press conference. "Now the NCP-Congress will not be able to go to the polls with confidence."

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