Sena reduced to 3 seats from 22, BJP sweeps Mira-Bhayander polls | Mumbai News

Vasai: BJP swept the polls for Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC), leading in 78 out of 95 seats—17 more than in the last civic elections held nine years ago.Shinde’s Shiv Sena won just three seats, compared with 22 in 2017, before the party split in two. Although BJP and Sena are allies in the state govt, they had parted ways for the civic polls here after disagreements on seat sharing.

Congress won 13 seats, one more than what it had secured in 2017 but still below 2012’s 19 seats. MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) failed to even open their accounts. Shiv Sena leader and state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said the party accepted the verdict. “I will continue to work for the citizens of Mira-Bhayander as an MLA and also as the transport minister.” Mira-Bhayander MLA Narendra Mehta from BJP attributed the win to the party’s expanding voter base in the city. Earlier, Mehta had refused to give more seats to Sena, despite requests from Sarnaik, arguing that BJP’s popularity had risen in the area. That led to the parties going it alone. Anil Bhosale, who was refused a BJP ticket and contested as an independent, won ward 14 (D) with a margin of more than 2,000 votes. One of the candidates from ward number 10(C), Shiv Sena’s Pooja Amgaonkar, asked for a recount after BJP candidate Kavita Tripathi won by eight votes—the win was confirmed. Congress’s candidate Sayed Aafreen Muzaffar Hussain, elder daughter of Congress leader Muzaffar Hussain, won from ward 22.