Sena-BJP combine leading in Shinde's home turf

The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine emerged as the dominant force in the 131-member Thane civic body on Friday, winning 50 seats in the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, while the counting of votes is underway. 

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has won 33 electoral wards, and the BJP has won 17, as per official data.  

Notably, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has won five of the 15 seats it contested. The party had two corporators in the TMC in the previous elections. 

The Shiv Sena contested 79 seats and the BJP 38 in the January 15 elections. 

Mahayuti ally Nationalist Congress Party, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had contested separately. It has won seven seats so far, according to data shared by officials. 

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar managed to secure eight seats out of 40 contested spots, as per trends, while its allies, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, and the Congress are staring at a rout. 

The Sena-UBT managed to secure just a single seat out of 64 it had contested, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, headed by Raj Thackeray, failed to open its account, as per the data available until evening. 

Other parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), have also failed to register any wins in the results declared to date.

Only one independent candidate has managed to emerge victorious out of 174 who entered the fray. 

A total of 72 results have been declared so far, while 59 seats are still to be decided. -- PTI