BJP candidate wins BMC elections through lottery after tie
Atul Shah, a BJP candidate in the elections for Mumbai's civic body BMC was declared winner through a lottery after he and a Shiv Sena candidate got the same number of votes. The Sena candidate had been declared the winner after counting, but Shah challenged it. A tie was declared between the two candidates after recounting for three times.
Ward number 220 of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has perhaps turned out to be the most keenly contested seat between BJP and Shiv Sena anywhere in Maharashtra in the just-concluded civic elections. Atul Shah, the BJP candidate, was a former MLA contesting against Shiv Sena's Surendra Bagalkar. So it came as a shock that the MLA had lost the municipal corporation election.  After the counting was over, the Sena's Bagalkar was declared the winner. But that was not to be.Atul Shah challenged the result. He demanded recounting of votes.Recounting was done not once but for three times. And in all the three rounds, there was a tie between Shah and Bagalkar. They had garnered equal number of votes.Finally, it was decided that the winner should be decided by lottery. Chits were drawn.Lo and behold! Luck favoured BJP's Shah and he was declared winner.Shah was one of the biggest names contesting from BJP. He is also the state spokesperson of BJP.With Shah's win, BJPs final tally reached 82. It is now behind Shiv Sena by just two seats. Shiv Sena has bagged 84 of the total 227 seats. BJP's spectacular performance is being credited to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Ward number 220 helped him close the gap with rival Shiv Sena.WATCH VIDEO: BMC polls: Fadnavis thanks people of Maharashtra, says win is unprecedentedREAD ALSO:How BM Election 2017 results match India Today exit poll predictionsBMC election: BJP lauds PM Modi, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis for impressive performance  Why Congress became irrelevant as Mumbai voted for Shiv Sena, rest of Maharashtra largely for BJP 