Shiv Sena wins civic bypoll in Mumbai

Shiv Sena won the bypoll from ward number 141 of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in suburban Mankhud, Officials said on Friday.

The voting in the ward took place on Thursday and the votes were counted on Friday. Shiv Sena candidate Vitthal Lokare defeated his nearest rival, BJP’s Bablu Panchal by a margin of 1,385 votes.

Lokre garnered 4,427 votes, while the BJP candidate received 3,042 votes in the ward located in Mumbai’s suburban district Mankhurd.

A total of 18 candidates were in the fray in the ward, where a by-election was required after Lokare, who was the sitting corporator of the Congress, resigned and joined the Shiv Sena in August 2019.

Lokare later contested the Shiv Sena Nagar seat in the October assembly elections on a Shiv Sena ticket but lost to Samajwadi MLA Abu Azmi by a margin of 25,000 votes.

India’s richest civic body BMC has a total of 227 seats.