With the opposition feeding off of people's anger towards the ruling NDA government over the demonetisation move, recent civic elections held in Maharashtra and Gujarat saw the BJP unfazed as it emerged on top in the states.
Claiming the highest number of seats in the key elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra, the BJP won 47 of the 147 municipal councils that went on polls on November 27. Its alliance partner Shiv Sena came second, winning 27 councils. Bad spell continued for the Congress and NCP as they won 23 and 21 councils respectively. PM Narendra Modi took to Twitter following the win saying, "I thank people of Maharashtra for placing their faith in BJP in local body polls. This is a win for pro-poor & development politics of BJP." Party president Amit Shah didn't miss the chance and took a dig at the opposition saying, "Maharashtra result should be a wakeup call for opposition attempting to mislead people on #Demonetisation, a decision in national interest."
BJP won in terms of seats too, though the Congress came in second at 643- a marginal drop from its previously held 1111. The NCP won 638 seats, Shiv Sena 514, MNS 16, local fronts 384, smaller parties 119, independents 324, and the CPM 12. The saffron party's winning streak continued in Gujarat as it made a clean sweep in two municipalities and one taluka panchayat elections and by-elections in 11 municipalities, seven district panchayats and 15 taluka panchayat seats in the state. BJP won 41 out of 44 seats in Vapi, 27 out of 28 seats in Kanakpur-Kansad municipalities, and 18 out of 22 seats in Gondal taluka panchayat.
Modi hailed the results tweeting, "Over the last few days we have seen the results of various polls, Parliamentary, Assembly & local polls across India. Be it the Northeast, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat... BJP has performed very well. I thank the people. These results across India illustrate that people want all-round progress of the nation & will not tolerate corruption & misgovernance."
