Voting begins in 23 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra

Polling began for the posts of president and members in 23 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across Maharashtra as well as for 143 vacant member posts in these local bodies on Saturday morningVoting for Maharashtra local body elections began at 730 AM and will continue till 530 PMCounting of votes for all municipal councils and nagar panchayats including those which went to polls on December 2 will take place on December 21 the State Election Commission said in a statementIn the first phase of Maharashtra local body elections votes were cast for 263 municipal councils and nagar panchayatsMunicipal presidents and members had been elected unopposed in many placesCounting of votes at all concerned locations will begin at 10 am on December 21In some places the ruling alliance partners including the BJP Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawars NCP are contesting against each otherThe poll battle became multidimensional with the BJPled Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA locking horns interspersed by friendly fights among the alliancesNo proposal sent by NCP SP or NCP to each other for local poll tieup says Shashikant ShindeMeanwhile NCP SP Maharashtra unit president Shashikant Shinde on Friday said neither his party nor the Ajit Pawarled ruling NCP have sent any proposal to each other for an alliance in the upcoming municipal corporation elections reported PTIOver the last few days speculations were rife that the two factions Sharad Pawarled NCP SP and Ajit Pawars NCP may come together and forge a prepoll alliance for the local bodies electionsWhile the NCP SP is in the Opposition along with the Shiv Sena UBT and the Congress under the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA the NCP is part of the ruling Mahayuti combine along with the BJP and Eknath Shindeled Shiv SenaShashikant Shinde visited the NCP SP office in the city where he met the party officebearersToday a meeting of our party was held in Pune with poll aspirants and officebearers A total of 277 people submitted applications for the civic body polls in Pune For the past few days there have been talks of a possible political alignment between the two NCPs But even now NCP SP has been holding talks with the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA allies to contest the polls together New friends including the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS are also willing to come together he said reported PTIThere are many options but discussions are still underway Everyone has the right to express their opinion At present discussions are continuing as MVA By tomorrow the core committee will discuss it The decision will be announced soon he added reported PTISo far no proposal has come from Ajit Pawars side nor have we sent any Sharad Pawar Saheb Supriya Sule Jayant Patil and I will discuss the issue together and make a decision First discussions will be held with alliance partners and then a decision will be taken In Pune some people are saying we should fight the polls as MVA while others feel that another option should be kept open Shinde said reported PTIWith inputs from PTI