Maharashtra civic polls: Its definitely a setback, says Congress

Mumbai: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today conceded that the results so far for the ten municipal corporations, 25 Zilla Parishads and 283 Panchayat Samitis across the state have signalled a setback for the party.

"The results are mixed with the party doing well in Zilla Parishads while suffering reverses in the municipal corporations. It is definitely a setback," party Vice President and spokesman Ratnakar Mahajan told PTI.

He said the results have been unexpected and need to be analysed on the organisational level at the popularity level.

"Whether there has been a disconnect between voters and the party leaders should be seen," he said.

Mahajan said even though the elections should have been fought on local issues, it looked as if the hangover of the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls remained.

"The high decibel campaign by the Sena and BJP showed as if the two parties are the only alternative to each other. Due to the aggressiveness of both parties to take on each other, opposition Congress and NCP virtually did not exist,"he said.

Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti results are yet to come and Congress is expected to do well in the rural areas, he said.

The party could barely manage to win 30 seats in Mumbai while it lost power in Amravati, Solapur civic bodies as well as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad where it shared power with NCP.