"Match could end in draw": Sanjay Raut calls BMC poll trends "inaccurate"

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 16 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday claimed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections "could end in a draw" as the final results for India's richest municipality are yet to be declared.
The results for 204 out of 227 seats have been declared, and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has won 110 seats, closing down on the majority mark of 114. The BJP has emerged as the largest party in the BMC polls, winning 85 seats while alliance partner Shiv Sena led on 25. The Thackeray brothers trailed behind at 65 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) doing the heavy lifting, winning 60 seats.
Speaking to reporters, Sanjay Raut called the trends "inaccurate" while calling the polls a close contest.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said, "The time to react has not yet come. Given how the vote counting is progressing in Mumbai, the final results won't be available until midnight. The figures being released are inaccurate. Vote counting hasn't even started in approximately 100 wards yet. Although I will admit that it's a close contest. The competition is fierce. But it's not true that the Shiv Sena (UBT) is far behind, as some are claiming."
"The figures you are seeing now will change. Our 60 corporators joined the Shinde faction. Almost all of them lost... Perhaps this match could end in a draw," he said.
In Mumbai, Congress has won 19 seats, NCP two, NCP (SP) one, and others won seven seats.
Meanwhile, in the Navi Mumbai civic body polls, the Yuti won by a thumping majority, with the BJP winning 65 seats and Shiv Sena winning 43 of the total 111 seats. In Ulhasnagar, the BJP won 37 seats, and the alliance partner Shinde Sena won 36 out of 78 seats.
In Panvel and Dhule, the BJP got a majority for the Mahayuti alliance single-handedly, winning 55 out of 78 seats and 50 out of 74 seats respectively, while the Sena won two and five seats respectively.
Saffron ruled in Jalgaon as well, with the BJP winning 46 seats and the Sena 22 of 75 seats.
In Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, the BJP alone crossed the majority mark, winning 39 of 78 seats while Shiv Sena and NCP won two and 16 seats respectively. Congress won 18 seats here. In Jalna, the BJP-Sena won 53 of 65 seats, defeating Congress, which won only nine. (ANI)