Akola: The Congress–Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) alliance on Sunday won the Patur Municipal Council election in Akola district with majority and clinched the president’s post. The election was held on Saturday.Patur was earlier excluded from the elections to the municipal councils and nagar panchyats across Maharashtra conducted on December 2 last year due to a pending court case related to jurisdictional and administrative issues. At the time, the matter was in its initial stage, prompting authorities to defer the elections.In the election for the post of council president, Congress candidate Hidayat Khan Room Khan, popularly known as Iddu Pehalwan, polled 6,009 votes and defeated his nearest rival Syed Burhan Nabi, representing the ‘Vikas Yoddha Aghadi’, by a margin of 1,601 votes. Vikas Yoddha Aghadi is an alliance of NCP (Ajit Pawar), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, and AIMIM. Nabi secured 4,408 votes.BJP candidate Sachin Dhone finished third with 2,409 votes, while Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) nominee Subhash Bochare managed only 194 votes.The ward-wise results further strengthened the Congress-UBT alliance’s position. Out of the total 20 seats in the municipal council, Congress won 8 seats, while Shiv Sena (UBT) secured 2. BJP managed to win two seats. The Vikas Yoddha Aghadi bagged 8 eight seats.With a combined tally of 10 seats, the Congress–UBT alliance has achieved a working majority in the council, in addition to capturing the top post. The outcome underscores the alliance’s growing influence in Patur’s local political landscape and deals a setback to both the BJP and the rivals.Patur falls within the Balapur assembly constituency represented by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Nitin Deshmukh. As per political observers, DeshHis local influence and the coordinated efforts of the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners are believed to have contributed to the alliance’s performance in the civic polls.
