Bhopal, Jul 16 (PTI) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday claimed to have won 84 per cent seats in district panchayat polls, while opposition Congress questioned its data and claimed to have won almost half the seats itself.These local body elections came ahead of the Assembly polls which are due next year.As the elections were not held on party lines, which party or whose supporters have dominated will become clear when elections for president and vice-president of district and Janpad panchayats are held between July 24 and 29.The BJP also claimed that candidates affiliated to it won 74 per cent seats in Janpad Panchayats and over 19,800 posts of Sarpanchs.Congress, on the other hand, accused the ruling party of using unfair means to win. MP BJP president V D Sharma told reporters that BJP supporters won 84 per cent seats in district panchayat polls. The party has secured majority in 44 out of 52 district panchayats, he claimed.Sharma also claimed that the BJP has won 74.44 percent seats in the Janpad Panchayat polls.Of 313 Janpad Panchayats which went to polls, BJP supporters won in 233 panchayats while information about remaining seats was being collected, he said.The BJP leader also claimed that 19,863 out of 22,924 or 87 per cent posts of sarpanchs were won by party supporters. Of these 650 sarpanchs won unopposed, Sharma added.These results showed that rural development schemes implemented by BJP governments at the centre and in the state have started to change people"s lives positively, he said.BJP supporters also won in the bastions of most state Congress leaders including Digvijaya Singh and Leader of Opposition Govind Singh, he claimed.K K Mishra, chairman of the state Congress" media department, claimed on the other hand that Congress supporters won on 386 out of 875 or 44 per cent seats of district panchayat members.Of the remaining, 129 seats were won by independents, he added.Accusing BJP leader V D Sharma of providing "fake data", Mishra said Congress would have won 125 more seats in district panchayats had the police and administration not been misused by the ruling party.Ministers were seen distributing money at several places and police harassed Congress supporters by filing serious cases against them under the Indian Penal Code, he alleged.“Democracy was murdered by misusing power and we will take legal recourse,” Mishra added.In a tweet, state Congress chief Kamal Nath thanked people for extending support to his party in the polls.An official of the State Election Commission (SEC) said that elections to the posts of president and vice-president of district and Janpad panchayats will be held between July 24 and 29.The panchs (members) who have been elected recently will also elect deputy sarpanch, SEC secretary Rakesh Singh said."Elections for deputy sarpanchs will be held on July 24 for the village panchayats which went to polls in the first phase. Where polls were held in the second and third phases, election for deputy sarpanch will be held on July 25 and 26, respectively," Singh said."The election of president and vice-president of Janpad panchayats by the recently elected members will be held on July 27 for the first phase and on July 28 for the second phase. District panchayat members will elect their presidents and vice-presidents on July 29," he added.As many as 873 candidates across 52 districts were declared victorious in district panchayat polls on Friday."Results of remaining two places are yet to be declared. Among 873 winners, one candidate was elected unopposed," said an SEC official.Voting was held in three phases on June 25, July 1 and July 8.Results of urban bodies, including municipal corporations, municipal councils and nagar parishad polls, held in two phases and contested on party lines, will be announced on July 17 (first phase) and July 20 (second phase)."The total number of district panchayat members was 875, while the count of janpad panchayat members (313 janpads), sarpanches and panchs in the state stood at 6,771, 22,921 and 3,63,726, respectively. In the three-tier panchayat polls, the voting percentage was 80.31 per cent," the SEC official said.The term of 91 village panchayats will end in November, and the schedule of polls for these will be issued separately later. PTI ADU BNM KRK KRK