Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane of Congress suffered a jolt on his home turf in Sindhudurg district in Konkan, as the Nationalist Congress Party made considerable inroads into Vengurla, Malvan and Sawantwadi, as counting of votes of 133 municipal councils was underway.
In Vengurla, while NCP got 12, Congress bagged only one seat. Bharatiya Janata Party got two seats, while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and independent candidates won one seat each.
In Malvan, Congress won eight, while NCP got six, followed by Shiv Sena's two and independent one. Whereas in Sawantwadi, NCP won all the 17 seats.
Supporters of Rane had clashed with the NCP and Shiv Sena workers in the run up to the elections, prompting the NCP to petition the State Election Commission, urging it to declare Sindhudurg district as sensitive.
Even the 'original' Congressmen in the district had turned against Rane and complained to the party high command against his style of functioning.
In Pen, out of the 18 seats, Congress bagged 14 and four went to independents. In Roha, Congress bagged four, while NCP got 13, while in Srivardhan, it won 12 seats.
Out of the results to 2,985 seats across the 133 municipal councils declared so far, NCP has emerged as the single largest party with 1,114 seats followed by Congress at 639 seats.
Shiv Sena has bagged 325 and BJP 189, MNS has made considerable gains with 51 seats, there are 207 independents and local outfits bagged 457 and other smaller parties three seats.
As many as 168 municipal councils went to polls on Sunday and approximately 65 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise.
Remaining 18 municipal councils will vote on Tuesday
Meanwhile, the NCP today said that people of Maharashtra had reposed faith in the leadership of the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who celebrated his 71st birthday on Monday, by voting for maximum number of party candidates in Sunday's municipal council elections.
Party spokesman Mahesh Tapase said, state unit chief Madhukar Pichad has thanked people of the state for supporting the party for reposing faith in the leadership of Pawar.
"We urge the people to continue their support to our party, which will make successful strides under the leadership of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar," he said.
