BJP triumphs over Thackerays in Mumbai, trumps Pawars in Pune civic polls

STATE TIMES NEWS

MUMBAI: Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the BJP on Friday emerged as the single largest party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also triumphed in Pune, where it made mincemeat of the alliance of NCP factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is set to come to power in 25 of the 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, where elections were held on January 15, Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis said, addressing jubilant party workers in south Mumbai in the evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the voters over the emphatic victory of BJP and allies in the civic polls.
“Thank you Maharashtra! The dynamic people of the state bless the NDA’s agenda of pro-people good governance,” Modi posted on X.
Results of 221 out of 227 wards in Mumbai were declared till 11 pm. The BJP won 87 and ally Shiv Sena bagged 27 seats, while Shiv Sena (UBT) got 64 and MNS six seats. The Congress, which fought in alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, bagged 24 seats.
Counting of votes in release an official statement on all the results. An official said the final results may be announced late in the night.
Coupled with a decent performance by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP is now in the driver’s seat to govern the cash-rich Mumbai civic body.
The high-stakes battle for BMC saw the Thackeray cousins reunite after two decades, only to see their hopes dashed as the results announced so far indicated.
In Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation polls, the BJP is heading towards a massive victory, way ahead of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and NCP (SP) alliance.
Fadnavis has emerged as the man of the moment, with the BJP under his leadership surpassing its previous high of 82 seats in the 2017 BMC elections.
The success of BJP’s ‘Mission Mumbai’ has now firmly established it as the key political force in the financial capital.
The result marks a significant shift in Mumbai’s power structure. For years, the BMC was considered the invincible fortress of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
With the BJP’s victory, the narrative of Mumbai politics has moved from the traditional identity-based ‘Marathi asmita’ to a mandate for the BJP’s plank of vikas’ (development) and urban infrastructure.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane said the BJP and Shiv Sena’s strong showing in the BMC polls amounted to a clear mandate for its Hindutva pitch during the campaign, as the alliance surged ahead in the race.
“Hindutva has always been our soul; one cannot differentiate our Hindutva from development,” Fadnavis said.
Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, was elected a corporator in the Jalna Municipal Corporation, winning the elections as an independent candidate.
In Nagpur, home turf of CM Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, counting trends and results for the Nagpur Municipal Corporation suggested a near-repeat of the 2017 results, leaving the Congress struggling to make significant inroads despite an aggressive campaign.
The BJP is on course to surpass the 2017 tally of 108 seats in the 151-member Nagpur civic body.
The Congress, which contested the polls in alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, won elections to the Latur Municipal Corporation, bagging a clear majority with over 40 seats in the 70-member body, leaving the BJP a distant second.
In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray reunited last month and rival NCP factions – the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and NCP (SP) headed by Sharad Pawar, also forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
In Mumbai, a sour insult turned into a sweet victory for BJP candidates that party leader K Annamalai campaigned for in the BMC polls, as they emerged triumphant, in a befitting reply to MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s ‘rasmalai’ jibe against the Tamil Nadu politician.
While campaigning in Mumbai for the BMC elections, Annamalai had said the city didn’t belong to Maharashtra alone as it was an international city.
The remarks triggered a sharp exchange from MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who slammed Annamalai, mocking him as “rasmalai” and questioning his authority to comment on Mumbai.
Amid trends showing the BJP-Shiv Sena’s aggressive march in the Mumbai civic polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the real picture will emerge only at midnight when the current indications will change after all votes are counted.
In what is being described as a collapse of its urban base, the Congress touched a new low in the BMC elections, and is expecting to win just around 10 per cent of the 227 seats.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) emerged as the dark horse in the civic polls, registering notable gains in Muslim-dominated wards across the state.
AIMIM’s former MP Imtiaz Jaleel said the party was set to win in 100 seats across the state and received strong support in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dhule, Amravati, Jalna, Malegaon, and Parbhani, besides garnering a few seats in Mumbai.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations were held on January 15 after a gap of several years, with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.
The elections were held in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.