Congress emerges single largest party in Chandrapur civic body; claims support of 5 corporators

Mumbai/Chandrapur, Jan 16 (PTI) In a setback for the BJP, the Congress on Friday emerged as the single largest party in Chandrapur Municipal Corporation winning 27 of 66 seats in the civic elections.

The Congress won 27 seats, the BJP 23, Shiv Sena (UBT) six, Janvikas Sena three, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi two and Independents two. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, AIMIM, and BSP bagged one seat each.

Notably, in the 2017 polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 36 of the 66 seats.

Addressing reporters in Chandrapur, senior party leader Vijay Wadettiwar said the Congress would come to power in the civic body and install its mayor with the support of more than 40 corporators.

Citing the poll outcome, he said that apart from Congress's 28 corporators, three corporators from Janvikas Sena have extended support to the party. Two independent corporators, who had contested after being denied tickets, are also supporting Congress, Wadettiwar added.

He alleged that voters had rejected the "corrupt and anti-people" functioning of the BJP-led civic administration.

"Because of corruption, false promises and arrogance of power, the people have voted against the BJP," Wadettiwar said.

He said issues such as price rise, unemployment, water scarcity, poor garbage management, bogus land allotments, and multi-crore scams had created strong public resentment against the BJP, which was reflected in the election outcome.

Congress workers burst firecrackers and danced to the beats of drums outside the party office.

Among the prominent winners were Sangeeta Amrutkar of Congress, Sanjay Kancharlawar-BJP, Vasant Deshmukh of Congress, Rajesh Addur of Congress and Pradeep alias Pappu Deshmukh of Jan Vikas Sena.

Those who lost included Ramu Tiwari, Santosh Lahamge, Rakhi Kancharlawar and Anjali Ghotekar.

Local Congress MP Pratibha Dhanorkar said the victory was due to the efforts of party workers. PTI MR COR NSK BNM