Patna, May 20: Results out, political parties have started coming out in the open in support of the councillors of the apolitical Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC).

As soon as the results for 67 wards of the PMC were out, the political parties started analysing how their activists fared in the elections. After review, the ruling alliance BJP-JD(U) had more reasons to cheer about because several candidates owing allegiance to the two parties emerged winners. The Opposition, on the other hand, has more worries.

Of the 67 seats whose results have been declared till now, the BJP activists or their kin have won at least 25; the JD(U) seems to be not far behind at 20. The RJD will have about 10 of its activists as new councillors in the civic body.

Ironically, when chief minister Nitish Kumar mooted the idea of holding panchayat and municipal polls on party lines around five years ago, most of the political parties opposed the move on the grounds that it would curb the people's right to elect candidates of their choice. But after each municipal poll result, the political parties become active in a bid to control the municipal boards from behind the scenes. Each municipality has only a handful of apolitical faces and the PMC is no exception.

Though the PMC polls are not fought on direct party lines, most of the candidates in the fray were affiliated to the BJP, JD(U) and RJD. Once the results were declared, they started flaunting their political affiliation.

Jeet Kumar, the councillor from ward number 13, candidly said it would have been impossible for him to defeat the sitting councillor Dr Gopal Prasad without the BJP’s support.

“The party workers were behind me throughout the campaign. I would not have won had I not got their strong support.”

Most of the PMC candidates and the political parties have a give-and-take relationship. The candidates take backing of the parties to emerge winners in the poll. The parties, on the other hand, use the councillors to be in touch with the people at the grassroots.

Ramkripal Yadav, the RJD MP who started his political career as a PMC councillor and was also deputy mayor of the city in the 80s, said councillors were a great medium to connect with people at the grassroots. “I think having councillors in the corporation definitely helps a political party in keeping its roots strong,” Yadav said, admitting that the RJD’s performance was below par in the civic polls.

“Some of our leaders like Abha Lata, Shiv Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar Munna, Sudha Devi, Sudheer Kumar and Mumtaz Jehan will make the presence of the party felt in the corporation but we have certainly lost some of the wards that we were expecting to win,” said Yadav.

The only prominent face of the Congress, struggling to maintain its identity in the state, in the corporation would be standing deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu because Jyoti Gupta, a party loyalist, lost in ward number 37.

Insiders in the BJP maintained that the PMC poll result was a mixed bag for the party.

“Our prominent activists like Deepak Chaurasia, Sushma Sahu, Hemlata Verma, Pramila Devi, Asha Devi, Reena Devi, Jeet Kumar, Urmila Singh and Sunaina Devi have registered victory this time. But we surprisingly lost in ward numbers 36 and 30, where our activists Dileep Paswan and Shobha Devi were defeated,” said a BJP leader.

He also said the party was preparing to move Patna High Court challenging the result of ward number 30. The party alleged that “miscalculation or fraud” played a decisive role in the ward.

Standing mayor Afzal Imam, Mohammad Neyaz, Gulfisha Zabi, Baleshwar Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Pinki Kumari, Prabha Devi are the JD(U) loyalists making it to the corporation. Imam said: “Our (JD-U’s) position has got better this time and we have won many new seats.”

With results of just a few seats awaited, the lobbying for the post of mayor and deputy mayor has started. The BJP leaders said the party would try to get both of the key posts.

“We will try to pitch Deepak Chaurasia or Sushma Sahu for the post of deputy mayor. When the result of ward number 39 is declared on May 23, where former mayor and BJP leader Sanjay Kumar is in the fray, we will try to promote him for the mayor’s chair once again,” said a close aide of BJP MLA Nitin Navin.