As predicted by the exit polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), like a tidal wave swept the polls in western Maharashtra, emerging as the single-largest party in the four municipal corporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik and Solapur.
Except the Solapur Municipal Corporation, where it narrowly missed total majority, the BJP scored landslide victories in the remaining three municipal corporations.
The BJP also emerged victorious in all three civic bodies in the Vidarbha region, including the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, and also emerged as the largest party in zila parishad bodies in many districts of the region.
The victory in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad effortlessly supplanted the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), definitively breaking the Pawar clan’s power bases in the district and ending its decade-long reign in the cash-rich Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).
A last-minute pact between the Congress and the NCP in the battle for PMC came a cropper, as the BJP juggernaut notched a record-best performance winning 98 of the 162 seats. In contrast, the NCP was routed with 40 seats. The Congress and the Sena secured 11 and 10 seats respectively.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), managed just two seats.
Winning strategy
In the cash-rich PCMC, where the voting figure touched a historic high of 67%, the saffron party’s strategy of awarding tickets to heavyweight defectors from opposing parties, especially the NCP, paid-off as the BJP secured an emphatic majority, winning 78 of the 128 seats.
The NCP, after consecutive landslides in the PCMC in 2007 and 2012, was reduced to 35 seats from its previous tally of 83. The Congress failed to open its account, while the Shiv Sena and the MNS got nine and one.
Likewise, the BJP ousted the beleaguered Congress from its traditional citadel in the Solapur Municipal Corporation (SMC), but narrowly missed absolute majority here. It secured 49 of the 102 seats with Shiv Sena, emerging second with 21 seats.
Bitter infighting
The decimation of Congress in Nagpur and neighbouring Municipal Corporations and Zila Parishads could see the emergence of a new and young leadership in the party. However, it will be up against a powerful BJP which had made Nagpur and the Vidarbha area as its bastion since 2014.
In Nagpur, the party won 108 out of total 151 seats, and the main Opposition, the Congress, was limited to 29 seats. Vikas Thakre, Nagpur district president of the Congress, was defeated by the BJP’s Dilip Dive from ward number 37 by 800 votes.
The Bahujan Samaj Party won 10 seats, down from 12 seats it had won last time. The Shiv Sena secured two seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was limited to just one seat.
The BJP carried out an organised campaign in Nagpur, with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari involved in the selection of candidates and campaigning.
The NMC election had become a prestigious election for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as he hails from Nagpur. Mr. Fadnavis addressed a meetings in all six Assembly segments of the city and made sure that all six MLAs from Nagpur, MLCs and even Rajya Sabha MPs, actively participated in the campaign.
The party’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) headquarter is also based in the city. The BJP registered a majority despite denial of tickets to relatives of senior RSS functionaries and Bajrang Dal leaders.
In Amravati, the BJP won 45 out of 87 seats in the civic body. The ruling Congress was restricted to 15 seats and the Shiv Sena won only seven seats. The BJP also managed to retain Akola Municipal Corporation by winning 48 out of 80 seats. The Congress won 13 seats, the Shiv Sena eight seats, and the NCP won five seats in the civic body.
Prakash Ambedkar’s Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, which was expected to emerge as a kingmaker in Akola, secured only 3 seats.
The BJP emerged as a winner in Chandrapur and Wardha zila parishads, and as the single largest party in Buldhana and Gadchiroli zila parishads. The Congress won in the Amaravati zila parishad polls, and the Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party in Yavatmal zila parishad.
