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by IANS |
Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS) The results of the 2025 Maharashtra Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat elections have triggered a seismic shift in the state’s political landscape. The ruling Mahayuti alliance -- comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar) -- has recorded a decisive, near-landslide victory, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has slipped into a serious crisis of relevance, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas.
Widely seen as a barometer of the Assembly polls, the results have firmly established the BJP as the single largest political force in the state of Maharashtra. At the same time, they underline a crucial lesson for the ruling dispensation: despite the BJP’s expanding footprint, the cohesion of the Mahayuti alliance remains essential for sustaining long-term electoral dominance.
The outcome suggests that Mahayuti has successfully operationalised the “double-engine government” narrative even at the municipal level. For the MVA, the verdict serves as a stark warning. Unless it resolves internal leadership tussles and matches the BJP’s organisational depth, the upcoming Zilla Parishad and major municipal corporation elections -- including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls -- could see a repeat of this rout.
Although the BJP emerged on top, several municipalities witnessed direct contests among MahaYuti partners -- BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction). Party insiders view these results as a litmus test of what could happen if the allies were to contest independently. The data indicates that while the BJP has made substantial gains, it continues to rely on its partners to retain a firm grip across Maharashtra’s diverse regions.
The BJP secured 117 Municipal President posts, nearly doubling its tally from the 2017 elections. Its councillor strength has surged from 1,601 in the previous term to 3,325, reinforcing its position as the undisputed “big brother” within the alliance.
For Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the results dispel the perception of being confined to Thane alone. Strong performances in Konkan, Raigad and parts of Marathwada have enhanced its bargaining power, allowing it to press for a larger share of seats in future elections. The NCP, meanwhile, has been gradually expanding beyond Pune and western Maharashtra, but still faces the challenge of consolidating its presence statewide.
Despite the overall victory, “friendly fights” were evident in places such as Ambernath and Pune, pointing to intensifying internal competition for the same voter base -- particularly between the BJP and Shinde’s Sena. This has also revived debate within the BJP over its long-term ambition of achieving a 51 per cent vote share. While the party is growing, the rising strength of its allies suggests that a united MahaYuti remains the most viable path to political stability.
In sharp contrast, the MVA’s downward slide continued. The local body polls delivered another blow following its poor Assembly performance. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), once dominant in western Maharashtra, failed to reach double digits in Municipal President posts, even losing ground in Baramati, where the Ajit Pawar faction prevailed.
Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), focused largely on the forthcoming BMC elections, left much of the local campaign to district leadership, resulting in limited success as Shinde consolidated his hold over the Konkan region. The Congress, however, found a small silver lining, showing signs of recovery in Vidarbha -- particularly in Chandrapur -- where it fared better than in the recent Assembly polls.
The Congress’s decision to contest independently in several areas, coupled with growing friction with the Shiv Sena (UBT), especially in Mumbai, fragmented the anti-BJP vote. With single-digit wins across many councils, both the Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) are struggling to prevent grassroots cadres from drifting towards the ruling alliance.
The BJP has already begun leveraging the victory to claim that Mumbaikars are moving away from the “Thackeray narrative”. The results provide the party with financial and organisational momentum to challenge the Sena (UBT) in its last major bastion -- Mumbai. The “Team Fadnavis” model of booth-level management, involving nearly 1.6 lakh booth workers, has been validated and offers a template for the Zilla Parishad polls, where local networking is critical. Control of Municipal President posts in 122 councils also helps the BJP cultivate loyal local leadership capable of influencing voters in adjoining rural areas.
For the MVA, the poor showing may act as a bitter but necessary wake-up call. It could force the alliance to end “friendly fights” and finalise a rigid seat-sharing arrangement to avoid vote division. For the Shiv Sena (UBT), the looming threat of losing the BMC has become an existential challenge, potentially pushing it towards a closer understanding with the MNS or greater dependence on the Congress to survive politically.
The MVA is also expected to recalibrate its messaging -- moving away from broad “Constitution” and “democracy” narratives, which failed to resonate at the local level, towards hyper-local issues such as agrarian distress, civic infrastructure and employment in an attempt to regain ground in Zilla Parishads.
Interestingly, the BJP’s strong performance has once again revived discussions around its long-term “Shat Pratishat” (100 per cent victory) ambition ahead of the 2029 Assembly elections. However, the party faces a delicate balancing act between long-term goals and short-term political realities.
While Union Home Minister Amit Shah has hinted at the BJP contesting future elections on its own, the municipal results suggest that uncoordinated “friendly fights” within MahaYuti could prove counterproductive. Party insiders caution that failure to maintain alliance discipline in the upcoming Municipal Corporation and Zilla Parishad polls could split votes and inadvertently hand an advantage to the MVA.
(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)
--IANS
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