Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 21: After clinching massive victory in the State Assembly elections last year, the ruling three-party “Mahayuti” alliance led by the BJP is storming the local body elections in Maharashtra leaving the rival three-party “Maha Vikas Aghadi” (MVA) way behind as the early trend showed on Sunday evening.
According to the results declared by 6 PM in the 253 of the 288 municipalities and nagar panchayats in the state, Mahayuti holding a clear edge was leading in 214 local bodies, with the BJP ahead in 129 bodies and the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde leading in 53, and the Nationalist Congress Party leading in 32, while the Opposition MVA was leading only in 53 bodies with Congress alone leading in 36, Shiv Sena (UBT) in nine and NCP (Sharad Pawar) in eight civic bodies.
The results come a year after the Mahayuti’s thumping victory in the 2024 Assembly polls and were closely watched to discern the mood of the people.
The BJP has already secured three seats unopposed, with members and presidents of the Dondaicha Municipal Council (Dhule) and Angar Nagar Panchayat (Solapur) elected without contest, while the poll for the Jammer municipal president also saw no opposition. Together, the trends point to a strong early showing for the Mahayuti in the civic polls.
The results will mark the culmination of a two-phase civic poll held on December 2 and December 21. The results are expected to offer an early read on the balance of power between the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition MVA at the grassroots level.
The contest turned multi-dimensional in several pockets, with alliance politics intersecting with local rivalries. In a number of towns, “friendly fights” emerged as partners within the ruling Mahayuti — the Bharatiya Janata Party, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party — fielded candidates against one another.
Sunday’s counting will also mark the run-up to the next big political contest in Maharashtra. The State Election Commission (SEC) has said elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and 28 other municipal corporations will be held on January 15, with votes to be counted the following day, January 16. A total of 2,869 seats will be contested across these civic bodies, and 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots.
The State Election Commission (SEC) said elections were held simultaneously to fill 143 vacant member posts across municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state. Of the total local bodies went to polls, voting for 263 municipal councils and nagar panchayats was conducted in the first phase on December 2, while the remaining councils and nagar panchayats voted on Saturday.
The Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Mahayuti’s “success” in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls was a team effort of the BJP organisation and the government. “It is a team effort — organisation and government. We fought the polls on the development plank. I led the campaign on a positive development agenda, and never did I even once criticise any political leader or party,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the results of the Maharashtra local body polls were only a trailer of what is in store in the municipal corporation elections on January 15. The Shinde Sena leader also hailed the “strike rate” of the Shiv Sena, saying the results were vindication of the good work his party had put in. “Results show the public’s preference for development over politics. The grand victory of the Mahayuti in the elections is just a trailer. The Mahayuti will repeat the same in the forthcoming municipal corporation elections,” he said at a press conference.
The elections have seen the split of existing alliances and the formation of new ones. The ruling BJP led by Mr Fadnavis and his deputy Shinde aggressively campaigned throughout the elections, many a time against each other. The two warring factions of the NCP–one led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and the other by party founder Sharad Pawar–have joined forces in Kolhapur. In a few other places, factions of the Congress had joined hands with the BJP.
