Pune: After bagging 207 presidents’ posts in the first phase of municipal council and nagar panchayat elections, the BJP-led ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra consolidated its hold over local bodies in the councillor posts too, crossing 4,422 seats (64.6%) across 288 civic bodies. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 2,431 seats (35.5%), followed by Shiv Sena (Shinde) with 1,025 seats (15%) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) with 966 seats (14.1%). The Mahayuti’s president and councillor wins reaffirm the alliance’s grip, though analysts acknowledged regional variations and competitive showings by Congress and local outfits in some pockets.Elections were held in two rounds on Dec 2 and Dec 20 and counting was on Dec 21. The State Election Commission (SEC) announced the results on Sunday and released the collated data for partywise presidents’ posts the same day and for the councillors on Tuesday. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress with 824 seats, SS (UBT) with 244 seats, and NCP (SP) with 256 seats managed a combined 1,324 seats (19.3%). Independents won 361 seats (5.3%), while unrecognised local parties bagged 605 seats (8.8%). Other smaller parties, including AAP, CPI, CPI(M), and BSP, collectively won just 11 seats. Elections were held for 6,851 of 6,859 seats and postponed in eight seats due to candidates’ deaths. As many as 25,976 candidates contested the polls.Political observers noted that while the BJP leads in councillor numbers, the winning percentage fell below expectations. Analyst Prakash Pawar told TOI, “The BJP candidates should have won by higher numbers considering the strength of 132 MLAs in their constituencies. Many victories were due to imported members rather than the party’s cadre.” He added that alliances in civic polls often diverge from state or national coalitions, cautioning against interpreting Mahayuti or MVA outcomes purely as alliance wins.BJP state president Ravindra Chavan said voters placed their trust in the BJP despite negative remarks and false narratives. “Voters supported BJP in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections. Large-scale infrastructural development projects are currently underway in cities across the state. In the upcoming elections as well, people will not fall prey to misleading claims.”State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said the results are a fitting reply to those who claim that the Congress is finished. “People have rejected the notion that social harmony can be disrupted in the name of caste and religion for political gain. This will provide fresh energy for our party workers for the forthcoming municipal corporation and zilla parishad elections,” he added.In division-wise trends, Konkan with 647 seats and 2,121 candidates saw Shiv Sena lead with 229 seats (35.4%), while the BJP was close behind with 192 (29.7%), making it a Sena-BJP battleground. NCP won 88 seats (13.6%), while Sena UBT, Congress, independents, and unrecognised parties shared smaller numbers.The BJP dominated in the other divisions. In Nashik, it secured with 471 seats (38.5%), in Pune, it bagged 417 seats (30.2%), in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, it won 355 seats (28.5%), in Amravati it tasted victory in 381 seats (34%), and in Nagpur, it notched up 615 seats (49.8%). Allies and the opposition retained pockets, while independents and local parties collectively accounted for 14-24% of seats, reflecting the influence of hyper-local leadership.Another political analyst said that while BJP has emerged as the single largest party for both president and councillor seats, it will still have to keep a check on the next corporation polls with “alliances” contesting in friendly fights, which may lead to confusion among voters where numbers may not emerge as desired. “The friendly fights and break away alliances is likely to affect the total in the upcoming corporation polls,” warns another political analyst.The BJP won in 117 presidents’ posts followed by Shiv Sena’s 53, and NCP’s 37, taking Mahayuti’s total to 207. The MVA won 44 posts with Congress bagging 28, Sena (UBT) 9 and NCP (SP) 7. The remaining presidents were elected from unrecognised parties (28), independents (5), and other state-recognised parties (4).
