India, March 24 -- In an extraordinary attack on his own government, deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde has called the Satara zilla parishad poll outcome the "murder of democracy", exposing the fault lines between the two alliance partners, the Sena and BJP, in the Mahayuti alliance government.

Shinde launched his broadside in the state legislative assembly on Monday, referring to the arrest of two NCP zilla parishad members, who were unable to cast their vote in Friday's election. The poll, which also saw cross-voting, led to the defeat of the numerically superior Sena-NCP combine, paving the way for the BJP to win even though it has fewer elected members in the local body.

Shinde's outburst was aimed at the BJP an...