After rural mandate, civic polls in 5 cities to decide winning political party in Maharashtra

Less than two months after the three-party ruling coalition, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), completed one year in office, elections were held for more than 14,000 gram panchayats or village councils

Less than two months after the three-party ruling coalition, Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), completed one year in office, elections were held for more than 14,000 gram panchayats or village councils. The results showed that the MVA has won more seats than the opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but also that the latter still has a strong presence in the state. In the next few days, elections will be announced for five civic bodies, including three in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Aurangabad, the results of which will indicate the urban population’s response to the MVA and BJP.

BJP supporters celebrate the gram panchayat election results in Kalyan, on Monday, January 18, 2021. (Rishikesh Choudhary/HT Photo)

In the recently held gram panchayat elections, BJP and Shiv Sena apparently emerged to be the top two performers (the state election commission is yet to officially declare results). In the next few days, five municipal corporations and two district councils are going to polls and expected to be another political test for the political parties. If the panchayat results are any indication, the three ruling parties that fought the elections separately will have no option but to join hands in them.

Although almost all the four major parties have claimed to have won the highest number of panchayats, the BJP and Sena appear to have bagged most of them. On the other hand, the three ruling parties —Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress — have between them won about 60% panchayats, although they fought the elections separately. This reaffirms the fact that united they fight, like they fought in the legislative council elections in November, they bag more number of seats.

The elections for five key municipal corporations and two district councils are expected to be announced in the next few weeks. Three of the corporations, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli and Vasai-Virar are from MMR, while two others are Aurangabad in central Maharashtra and Kolhapur in western Maharashtra. Sena and BJP are in power in KDMC and Navi Mumbai respectively, while Vasai-Virar is controlled by MLA Hitendra Thakur-led Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. Aurangabad is ruled by the Sena for years, while Congress has the reigns of Kolhapur city. Bhandara and Gondia district councils, held by Congress and NCP respectively, in Vidarbha, too, are expected to go to polls simultaneously.

During the five years of its rule in Maharashtra until October 2019, the BJP emerged top party in almost all local bodies. Of the total 2,736 seats in 27 municipal corporations, BJP has 1,099, while out of 2,000 in 34 district councils, it had won 526 over the past five years. In 351 Panchayat Samitis’ 4,000 seats, the party has 1,123 members. The three ruling parties are way behind BJP in these local bodies if individual numbers are counted. The biggest challenge before the saffron party would be to retain its position at local levels.

BJP’s vice-president Madhav Bhandari said although ruling parties enjoy an edge in the local body elections, his party would retain its top position. “The ruling parties have failed to take that advantage as the voters in rural parties have given us the mandate in panchayat elections. It is true that we lost our two traditional seats in council elections, but taking a lesson from them, we concentrated on village bodies, went for course correction and won most of them. Similarly, our endeavour would be to bag maximum urban and rural local bodies going to polls in near future. Even if the ruling parties fought them together, it would not make any difference,” he added.

Ruling parties always enjoy an edge during the local body elections for various reasons. “First of all, government machinery is at your dispense and the BJP had used it ruthlessly in five years. Voters think that allocation of development funds for civic bodies is more if the ruling parties are elected to the local bodies. In recent council elections, the educational institutions in Pune and western Maharashtra responded to us very well when we convened meetings, seeking votes from teachers and constituencies. During the BJP rule, they would not even attend our meetings,” said a senior Congress leader.

Minority development minister and NCP leader Nawab said, “The BJP has been lying about its performance in the panchayat elections, the MVA has bagged highest number of village panchayats. We will retain the trend even in the forthcoming local body elections, though we might not fight the polls together. It is part of our strategy because fighting together where BJP is weak will help the opposition,” he said.

A Congress leader said the three parties have decided to contest the local bodies under the leadership of the strongest partner. “Like in Kolhapur, we will fight alone as we have strong base there, while in Navi Mumbai, the ruling alliance will fight under the leadership of Sena,” he said.

The leader said that with BJP winning sizable seats in the local bodies, like in panchayats, will bring the ruling parties closer for the want of keeping the government floating.

“Whether the BJP is number or two in rural polls is not important. What is important is that they still have significant support among rural voters. As such, we will have to stay together to counter them,” said a senior NCP minister.

Prakash Pawar, political analyst from western Maharashtra, said it would be a challenge before the BJP to retain its power in local bodies. “Though BJP has been claiming that it won the highest number of panchayats, they are not in the proportion of the assembly segments they hold. It’s almost double than Sena and NCP in terms of MLAs in Assembly, but the number of panchayats it won are not double. The party is at loss after snapping ties with the Sena last year, but the latter has benefited from it. The three ruling parties can benefit if they fight together, but question is if they have the flexibility to do so without flexing muscles at each other,” he said.

According to an officer from the state election commission, the elections to the civic bodies are expected to be announced in next few weeks only after electoral data is updated. “We get the electoral rolls from Election Commission of India. Once the updated rolls are received, they will be published at local level for suggestion and objections and the elections to the local bodies are announced,” he said.

The officer said that the other administrative process, such as delimitation of wards, drawing of reservations have already been completed and they are all set to hold the elections as soon as the electoral rolls are revised.

The elections to these corporations and ZPs were due last year, but were delayed due to the pandemic.