The BJP, aided by Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, appeared poised to secure the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other key civic bodies in Maharashtra on Friday evening, making light of the Thackeray and Pawar families’ desperate unity bids and pushing them to the margins.
The trends and results from the 29 municipal corporation elections seemed to confirm the BJP’s grassroots dominance and status as the state’s pre-eminent political force, eclipsing the regional parties including those of coalition partner Shinde and state-level ally Ajit Pawar.
One of the biggest losers, somewhat paradoxically, is BJP ally Shiv Sena, with the saffron party set to take over the BMC, ending its long-time coalition partner’s four-decade stranglehold over the coveted civic body. In the previous election in 2017, the then undivided Sena had won 84 seats against the BJP’s 82 and held on to the post of
the mayor.
At 10.30pm on Friday, the BJP had won or led from 88 of the BMC’s 227 seats compared with the Shinde-led Sena’s 28 in a multi-corner contest (with trends from some seats yet to come), and looked poised to have a Mumbai mayor of its own for the first time.
The figures seemed to further confirm the decline of the Thackeray family, which had for decades dominated politics not just in Mumbai but across Maharashtra.
The surprise alliance between Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and estranged cousin Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was stuck at 72. The Congress score was 24.
In Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, where it contested alone, the BJP was on its way to clear victories.
BJP workers celebrate a party candidate’s victory amid confetti and gulal in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections on Friday. PTI
The Congress managed a notable victory in Latur, central Maharashtra, winning 43 of the 70 seats, and remained in the reckoning to win power in three of the smaller civic bodies if it could strike profitable post-poll alliances.
The Pawars suffered a setback. Both the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions — led by deputy chief minister Ajit and his uncle Sharad, who were rivals till the other day — had joined hands to counter the BJP in their traditional strongholds. They received a drubbing.
In Pune, the BJP led from 123 of the 165 wards while the NCP alliance had been reduced to 24.
In the manufacturing hub of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the second richest civic body after Mumbai’s, the BJP led from 84 of the 128 wards in contrast to the two NCPs’ combined 37.
With the Sena as its junior partner, the BJP wrested control of the municipal corporation in Nagpur, home turf of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Cong show
Disarray within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi saw state-level alliances fracturing at the local level, leaving the Congress isolated in most corporations and forced to contest alone.
Yet, apart from winning Latur, the Congress performed well in Bhiwandi, winning 30 of 84 seats. With Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction tallying 12, the two INDIA partners can form the board with support from Independents, whose number stood at 8. The BJP-Sena won just 34 seats.
The Congress also made a mark in its stronghold Kolhapur with 34 out of 81 seats, opening up the possibility of forming the board with support from others.
In 65-seat Parbhani, the Congress and the Sena (UBT) tallied 13 and 25 seats, respectively, meaning they can join hands to secure a majority. Here, the BJP could win only 12 seats and the NCP, 10.
The BJP crowed over its impending victory in Mumbai and other Maharashtra cities while taking digs at the Opposition “INDI Alliance”.
“The Mahayuti is set to form the government (sic) in 25 of the 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai,” Fadnavis, who had led the campaign, told reporters.
Fadnavis’s position as the party’s undisputed leader in the state has now been further cemented, after his spectacular success in last year’s Assembly polls where he led the BJP to a record 132 seats in the 288-member House, and the alliance to a landslide victory.
While the state elections had begun the process of the BJP shedding its tag of junior partner to the Sena, the BMC polls seem to have completed it.
“History created once again!! Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi ji…the BJP has achieved a momentous victory in the state yet again,” Fadnavis said in a post on X.
Union home minister Amit Shah said the results reflected popular endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
The partial results from across the state seemed to underscore that the regional parties stood to gain more by aligning with, rather than fighting, the BJP.
Shinde, one of the two deputy chief ministers in the Mahayuti government, had emerged as the dominant face of the Sena after aligning with the BJP and splitting the Uddhav-led Sena in 2022. He walked away with the majority of Sena legislators.
Dynasts lose
Ajit, the other deputy chief minister and leader of the dominant NCP faction, has taken one of the most painful blows. He had walked away from the BJP for the civic polls and contested from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in alliance with uncle Sharad, looking to retain control of what the family considered its citadels.
The heavy defeats he has suffered are expected to significantly weaken his bargaining power within the Mahayuti alliance.
The Mumbai vote has raised questions over the political future of the Thackeray cousins and their brand of aggressive politics, centred on Marathi pride. The loss of the BMC might threaten the cadre loyalty they had bought, at least partly, using the patronage networks of the rich civic body.
In a celebratory post on X, Modi said: “Thank you Maharashtra! The dynamic people of the state bless the NDA’s agenda of pro-people good governance!”
Ajit conceded defeat, bowing to “the will of the people”.