THANE: Shiv Sena had a major victory at the Thane Municipal Corporation mayoral elections on Wednesday, with both the mayor and deputy mayor elected from the party. Saffron candidate Sanjay More was elected the mayor, while his party colleague Rajendra Sapte was chosen the deputy mayor.

More secured 66 votes defeating Congress nominee Vikrant Chavan, who polled 46 votes. Sena’s Sapte bagged 66 votes defeating Congress candidate Meghna Handore, who bagged 49 votes.

Meanwhile, four of the six Congress corporators, who recently joined Sena, along with Ravindra Pathak, refrained from voting. Kanchan Chindarkar, one of the remaining two, voted for the Sena candidate and later resigned. Raj Thackeray-led MNS corporators did not participate in the voting process.

Unlike in the past, this year, the elections were a much smoother affair for the administration and political parties.

Saffron leaders feel that the TMC elections are an indication that ‘all is well’ among the saffron alliance at the state level too. “Newspaper reports suggested that there is problem within the saffron alliance over seat sharing for the assembly elections. But the TMC election is an indication that seat sharing pact between Sena-BJP will continue without any further trouble,” a key Sena functionary said.

However political experts differ from the saffron leaders in Thane. “Had the Sena-BJP not cooperated with each other here, it would have given wrong signal to voters. But the situation may not be the same during the state assembly polls,” an expert said.

