Nanded (Maharashtra), Oct 12 (IANS): The ruling Congress on Thursday notched early gains in the Nanded-Waghala City Municipal Corporation (NWCMC) polls in Maharashtra, leading in at least 28 out of the 81 seats.

The polling was held on Wednesday.

The main rival, Bharatiya Janata Party trailed far behind with leads in just one seat.

The BJP ally at the Centre and in the state Shiv Sena and Congress partner National Congress Party and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) failed to secure any lead as per the vote count at noon, a State Election Commission (SEC) official said.

The NWCMC is one of the last surviving bastions of the Congress in the state and a stronghold of state party chief Ashok Chavan.

Both the Congress and BJP had made it a battle of prestige to wrest the civic body in its control.

For the first time in the state, the SEC has deployed VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) voting machines in 31 polling centres in Ward No. 2 as a pilot project in the elections which recorded a 60 per cent turnout.