Pune/Mumbai, Jan. 17 -- They are two of Maharashtra's most important political families. Ahead of the Maharashtra local body polls, two key unions in the Pawar and Thackeray clans were touted as game changers, bringing together the regional juggernauts in an event that was supposed to shake up state politics. On Friday, however, the union of Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray in Mumbai, and Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar in Pune, turned out to be an electoral whimper. The Thackerays lost their erstwhile bastion of Mumbai, with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena alliance winning just 71 of the city's 227 seats, compared to the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena alliance's 118 seats (figures as of 11.15 pm on Friday). In Pune, where the coming together of the Nationalist Congress Party and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) was the subject of a bitter campaign and sharp comments from the ruling Mahayati, the Pawar alliance was soundly trounced by the BJP, by either winning and leading in 120 seats while NCP managed to take lead in 20. NCP's ally NCP (SP) managed to win 3 while Shiv Sena drew blank. "These results are disappointing, but we respect the people's mandate. Ajit Pawar worked hard to win the polls. However, the result is not in our favour and we accept the verdict with humility," said NCP's Pune unit working president Pradeep Deshmukh. In Mumbai, the Thackeray cousins buried a 20-year-old hatchet last year as they shared a public stage at a joint rally in Mumbai on July 5. The event was framed as a show of "Marathi unity" and was jointly organised by the SS (UBT) and the MNS. At the rally, both leaders made it explicit that their coming together was meant to protect Marathi political influence in Mumbai, with the BMC elections as the central focus. Udddhav Thackeray had then said that Maharashtra belonged to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and every proud Marathi. "We must protect our language and identity at all costs," he said and added that they had come together to stay together," he had said on July 5. Raj Thackeray, however, didn't say anything on the alliance on July 5, but spoke on Marathi language and how they had come together to fight government resolution on the imposition of Hindi from Standard one in schools But the results on Friday showed the large crowds at the rallies had not translated into votes as the union appeared to have failed to click beyond the immediate Marathi strongholds in the city. The SS (UBT) won 64 seats after fighting 163 . The MNS won six seats after fighting 52 . In contrast, the BJP won 89 seats, including in the Opposition's erstwhile bastions. Experts said big effort from BJP and Sena let the cousins down, leading to the Thackerays losing control of their once-formidable bastion after 25 years. In Pune, a long-rumoured coming together of both factions of the NCP became a reality in PMC and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation....