BJP wins 163 Panchayat Samiti Pradhan posts, Cong 119 in Raj

Rajasthan’s ruling BJP won 163 Pradhan posts and Congress 119 while Independents and others secured the position in 13 of the 295 Panchayat Samitis that went to polls in three phases last month.

According to a State Election Commission official, 6,236 elected members voted to elect Pradhans in the 295 Panchayat Samitis on party lines yesterday.

Out of the 6,236 Panchayat Samiti seats, the ruling BJP won 3,018, Congress 2,534, CPI(M) 38, BSP 28, CPI 1, and Independents 617. The results came out on February 5 and 6. BJP got majority in 140 Panchayat Samities but mustered support of others to elect Pradhans in 163, while Congress got majority in 98 Samities and bagged the Pradhan’s post in 119. Independents were elected Pradhan in 12 Panchayat Samitis while BSP bagged the post in one Samiti.

In yesterday’s 33 Zila Pramukh elections, BJP won in 21 despite having majority in 23 Zila Parishads and Congress having majority in nine Zila Parishad got Zila Pramukh in 12 Zila Parishads.

The election of Up-Zila Pramukh and Up-pradhan are being held on Sunday, and their results would be out later tonight, the official said, adding that the entire election process of Panchayats would end on Sunday.

Sarpanchs elections in 9,824 Gram Panchayats and Panch elections in 1,09,469 were already completed during this process.

Commenting on the outcome of the Panchayat polls, BJP state President Ashok Parnami claimed that now the BJP was not the party of cities as it entered into villages and Panchayats for the first time in Rajasthan’s history defeating Congress’s strongholds.