Thane civic polls results: Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena retains hold; wipes out UBT, Congress

THANE: The Shiv Sena, led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, managed to completely rout the UBT in the undivided Sena citadel that had incidentally given the party its first power seat after its formation.While the Sena bagged 75 seats in the 131 House, including the six unopposed seats, the UBT managed to get only a green horn Shahji Khuspe elected to the House, where he defeated Sena strongman Ashok Vaity from the Kajuwadi ward 13, which is incidentally home to deputy CM’s residence. This is the second time after 2017 that the Sena has got a asingle-handed majority.

The fight in Thane was considered a huge prestige issue for both the factions of the Sena where Shinde, who had the crucial task of retaining the winning streak, managed to hit the bull’s eye by getting a single-largest majority and permanently smudging the traitor tag off his team and also importantly managed to cement his position as the true heir of Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideological legacy.

The UBT, led by Uddhav Thackeray, has been nudged out of the city which once gave it the first power seat.Meanwhile, the BJP clocked in 28, and with the Sena numbers, it has adequate strength to anoint Mahayuti mayor to the Thane House. Interestingly, the Sena had got nearly 67 candidates, a majority in the 2017 House.On the other hand, the two factions of the NCP collectively managed to get 20 seats, a clear drop from 34 that it won in 2017.

The Sharad Pawar faction that contested 41 seats managed to win 12 seats, including greenhorn Abhijit Pawar, who was in the news recently for switching loyalty to the Ajit Pawar faction and returning to SP fold the following day. The Ajit Pawar camp won 9 seats.In a huge surprise, a ‘Congress mukt Thane’ situation arose as the party failed to get even a single seat of the 65 seats it contested. City party president Vikrant Chavan who has been representing ward 7 since the last several decades also lost out. “This is possibly a first in the history of the corporation since it was formed that the

Congress

may not have a representative in the House,” said a party leader from Thane.A surprise element was the MIM, which managed to get 5 seats in the Thane House, an increase of three from the previous term. Meanwhile, the counting process reported friction between two rival groups at the New Horizon Scholars School in Hiranandani Estate, Friday evening, following which extra police personnel had to be deployed.Deputy CM Eknath Shinde thanked voters from Thane, especially the laadki bahins for supporting the Sena to break its previous record and cross the 71-seat mark and replicate its stellar performance in single-handedly winning the corporation. “The Mahayuti (Sena and BJP) have collectively secured over 100 seats in the corporation and we will soon anoint our mayor,” he said.Several rebel candidates from the BJP and Sena who were denied tickets at the last minute, contested from prominent seats as independents but failed to make an impact.