Sena-BJP sweep Bombay civic polls

The Shiv Sena--Bharatiya Janata Party alliance secured absolute majority in Bombay's civic polls, bagging 129 seats out of 221.

-The Sena, bagging 103 seats, and the BJP, with 26, left the Congress with 48, followed by the Samajwadi Party with 21.

Following the defeat, Bombay Regional Congress Committee President Murli Deora has sent his resignation to party president Sitaram Kesri owning moral responsibility for the party's debacle. Deora hold a record for being BRCC president since 1980.

In the last 1992 BMC elections, the Congress-RPI alliance secured 114 seats but, in 1996, lost the mayor's post to the Sena despite having a majority in the House. Trouble within the alliance and the Congress opened the door for the Sena-BJP alliance.

Among those who won were Communist Party of India leader Manishankar Kawade who has been a corporator for 25 years running, sitting Shiv Sena Mayor Milind Vaidya, former Congress mayors R T Kadam and R R Singh, BJP corporator Tara Singh and Samajwadi Party leader Yusuf Abrahani.