In the first phase polling held on February 16, overall 63.8 per cent voting was registered for 15 zilla parishads and 165 panchayat samitis. The zilla parishads that went to polls in the first phase included Jalgaon. Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Hingoli, Beed, Nanded, Osmanabad, Latur, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli.
Apart from Mumbai, in elections to nine other municipal corporations across the state, the polling percentage evoked mixed reactions. Of these nine corporations, the BJP hopes to wrest Pune from the NCP and Solapur from the Congress. In Nashik, the higher polling is likely to give the Shiv Sena an edge. It was held by the MNS in the last elections. In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, held by NCP leader Ajit Pawar, the BJP expects to deal a setback to the NCP.
In the 2012 elections, the NCP was ahead of others with the Congress in second position, the Sena third and the BJP fourth.
The BJP — which had drawn a blank in Sangli, Satara and Solapur zilla parishads in the last elections — expects to break ground this time. The Shiv Sena too did not win any seat in Sangli, Satara and Solapur in the last elections.
