Congress today swept the Latur municipal corporation and emerged as the single largest party in three of the four other civic bodies in Maharashtra,where elections were held yesterday. The party's most impressive performance came in Latur,from where Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh hails. Congress bagged 49 of the 70 seats,fending off a challenge by NCP,which managed only 13 seats. Shiv Sena won 6 and others two. Congress and NCP,ruling alliance partners in the state government,contested the polls separately. Voting was held in Latur,Chandrapur and Parbhani which were upgraded into corporations and also in Malegaon and Bhiwandi-Nizampur corporations. The only place where Congress lost pole position was Parbhani,where NCP outshone Congress,bagging 30 of the total 65 seats. Congress won 23,Shiv Sena 8,BJP 2 and others 2 seats. In Chandrapur,from where state BJP chief Sudhir Mungantiwar hails,Congress won 26 of the total 66 seats,while BJP won 18 seats. NCP won 4,Sena 5,MNS 1,BSP 1 and others 11 seats. In Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation,Congress won 26 of the total 90 seats. NCP won 9,Sena 16,BJP 8 and others 15 seats. Independents have held sway over the Bhiwandi civic body,with the support of Congress-NCP or Shiv Sena-BJP alliances. Bhiwandi,44 km from Mumbai,is a powerloom city with Muslims as the majority community. In Malegaon,Congress won 25 of the total 80 seats. NCP won 8,Sena 11,MNS 2 and others won 34 seats. Conceding defeat in Latur,NCP MP J M Waghmare said the rival party (read Congress) had used money power in the polls,distributing sarees to women and giving cash to voters. Deshmukh thanked voters for the trust shown in Congress and assured that there would be no shortage of funds for developmental schemes. Polling was held for 371 seats in the 5 corporations. Following is the final tally: Congress-149,NCP-64,Shiv Sena -46,BJP-28,MNS-3,BSP-1,other state parties-21,registered parties-31 and independents-28.
