Civic polls in Maharashtra: Shiv Sena surges ahead in Kalyan-Dombivli municipal elections

After a poll campaign, which saw much mud-slinging between the Shiv Sena and the BJP, the former appears to be stealing a march over the BJP in the elections to the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC). The Sena is leading in 60 seats out of a total of 122 seats, a report by DNA has said. The BJP was leading in 28 seats, while the MNS and the Congress-NCP combine was leading in 12 and 6 places respectively, according to a report by Zee News. However, in a significant loss for the Shiv Sena, Mayor Kalyani Patil was defeated by BJP candidate Suman Nikam, DNA reported. [caption id=“attachment_2491960” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: AFP[/caption] The results of the KDMC elections could be an indicator of things to come in the elections to the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2017. Apart from Kalyan-Dombivli, the Kolhapur municipal corporation as well as elections to 67 municipal councils were held on Sunday. The elections are being seen as a test for the Devendra Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra and can have a bearing on how long the alliance with the Shiv Sena at the state level will last, as pointed out in this _Firstpost_ article . While the KDMC is presently being ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, all political parties are now fighting the civic polls on their own. DNA reported that Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena MLA, reacting to the leads which emerged said that people have voted for development, not for ‘fake packages and blueprints.’ Recently, Shinde had offered to resign from his post, alleging that the BJP has been humiliating Shiv Sena workers, NDTV reported. Later, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was reported to have said that if the government were to become arrogant, all the Shiv Sena members would resign.