By IANS
Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) : Independents have been favoured to rule the Bhiwandi civic body again with 21 of their group winning the local elections after the counting of votes Monday.
The Bhiwandi Vikas Aghadi, which had vowed to support the independents, has bagged nine seats in the 84-member body whereas the Samajwadi Party has won 17 seats. Congress and Shiv Sena won 14 seats each while its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged four.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won three seats and Republican Party of India (RPI) and Lok Party one each. Shiv Sena's Madan Naik won the election unopposed.
The sitting mayor, independent Vilas Patil, appears poised for another term in the office.
About 55 percent voting was reported in the incident-free civic polls held Sunday in this communally sensitive town near Mumbai.