Thane (Maharashtra) [India], January 3 : Seven candidates from the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena were elected unopposed in the Thane Municipal polls on Friday.
They met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his residence to express their gratitude.
The seven Shiv Sena candidates were declared winners even before a single vote was cast, as opposition parties and other candidates either withdrew or had their nominations rejected.
The party workers and supporters celebrated soon after the opposition party backed out, and the leader was elected unopposed.
Polling for 29 municipal corporation elections across the state, including Mumbai, Pune, and Pimpri-Chinchwad, will be held on January 15, with vote counting scheduled for January 16.
Friday was the last day to withdraw nomination.
Speaking to reporters, Sukhada Sanjay More, Shiv Sena's winning candidate from ward number 18, said that rival candidates had withdrawn their nominations and that the "public is standing with Eknath Shinde".
"There was a candidate from another party and one from the Congress against me. Both of them backed out. The public is standing with Eknath Shinde," More said.
Meanwhile, two Bharatiya Janata Party candidates from Pune Municipal Corporation and 15 from Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation of Thane were elected unopposed ahead of the Maharashtra local body election, the party confirmed on Friday.
BJP candidates Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap were elected unopposed from the Suncity-Manikbaug ward in Pune.
In a similar development, 15 BJP candidates were elected unopposed in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation of Thane district, the party said in a release.
The unopposed elected candidates include Ranjana Penkar - Ward 26(B), Asavari Navre - Ward 26(C), Manda Patil - Ward 27(A), Jyoti Patil - Ward 24(B), Rekha Chaudhary - Ward 18(A), Mukand alias Vishu Pednekar - Ward 26(A), Mahesh Patil - Ward 27(D), Sai Shelar - Ward 19(C), Dipesh Mhatre - Ward 23(A), Jayesh Mhatre - Ward 23(D), Harshada Bhoir - Ward 23(C), Sunita Patil - Ward 19(B), Pooja Mhatre - Ward 19(A), Ravina Mali - Ward 30(A) and Mandar Halbe - Ward 26(D).
On December 29, the Mahayuti had finalised its seat-sharing formula for the upcoming BMC elections. The BJP will contest 137 seats, while the Shiv Sena will field candidates in 90.
Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut announced that his party, which came into an alliance with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, will contest around 140 seats in the BMC polls.