Congress' Udit Raj dubs Maharashtra civic polls "unfair', says "indelible ink played major role" in results

New Delhi [India], January 17 (ANI): Congress leader Udit Raj has criticised the recent Maharashtra Municipal Body elections, terming them as "unfair" and alleging that indelible ink played a major role in the results.
Raj claimed that many people were unable to find out their names or the polling booth during voting in the civic body polls.
"It was an unfair election on a very large scale. Indelible ink played a major role in this unfair election... Hundreds of people were on the streets, unable to find their booth and struggling to find their names in the list," Udit Raj told ANI.
According to the official election results, of the 2,869 seats across municipal bodies, the BJP-led Mahayuti emerged as the clear winner in multiple places, securing 1,824 seats. Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS together managed to win only 168 seats across the state in the recently concluded local body polls.
The Congress, which fought the polls alongside the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), secured 324 seats. The NCP, which was in alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, won 167 and 36 seats, respectively.
Meanwhile, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) registered a notable presence in the state, improving on its performance in previous municipal elections.
In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the BJP won 89 seats, polling 11,79,273 votes, which accounts for 21.58 per cent of the total votes cast. Among all winning candidates, the BJP's vote share stands at 45.22 per cent, making it the single largest party in the civic body.
Its alliance partner, the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), secured 29 seats with 2,73,326 votes, translating into 5.00 per cent of the total vote share. Together, the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance emerged as the largest bloc in the BMC.
On the other side, the Shiv Sena (UBT), contesting in alliance with the MNS, won 65 seats. The UBT-led Sena polled 7,17,736 votes, accounting for 13.13 per cent of the total votes cast. The MNS added 6 seats to the alliance tally, with 74,946 votes and a 1.37 per cent vote share. The Indian National Congress (INC) secured 24 seats, polling 2,42,646 votes, which represents 4.44 per cent of the total vote share.
Among other parties, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 8 seats with 68,072 votes. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured 3 seats, the Samajwadi Party won 2 seats, and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won 1 seat.
Overall, winning candidates from recognised political parties polled 26,07,612 votes, amounting to 47.72 per cent of the total votes cast. The total number of votes polled in the election stood at 54,64,412, while 11,677 voters opted for NOTA. The results reflect a fragmented but competitive civic mandate, with alliances playing a decisive role in shaping the final outcome of the BMC elections. (ANI)