Pune: In a major shock to the BJP, the NCP on Tuesday managed to elect its mayor for the Sangli Miraj Kupwad Municipal Corporation, which was ruled by the saffron party.

The NCP's Digvijay Suryawanshi was elected as the mayor of the civic body, after five BJP corporators voted in favour of him.

"There are 78 members in the civic body. During the election, the NCP candidate bagged 39 votes, while the BJP's Dhiraj Suryawanshi got 36 votes," the NCP's district president Sanjay Bajaj said.

At least five BJP corporators voted in favour of the NCP candidate, while two abstained from voting, he said.

Earlier, the BJP's strength in the civic body was 43, while the NCP's was 34, he said, adding that the party managed to adjust seven votes in the election.

Umesh Patil of the Congress has been elected as the deputy mayor, he said.

The NCP's state unit chief and cabinet minister Jayant Patil congratulated Suryawanshi and Patil on their win.

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Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.

The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.

The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.

The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.

Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.

Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.