The Bharatiya Janata Party and its Mahayuti alliance with Shiv Sena is leading in 24 of the 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur, after counting of votes began Friday morning.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are comfortably ahead in the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as per trends, with the alliance ahead in 210 of the 227 wards.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which contested as an alliance, are leading trailing in most districts. Going by the trends, the Mahayuti alliance is poised to cross the majority mark of 114 needed to wrest power in the BMC.
The Congress, with its ally Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, has wrested power in Latur.
BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is also leading in eight of the nine municipal corporations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which accounts for over 20% of the state’s population. In Vasai-Virar Municipal corporation, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi led by former MLA Hitendra Thakur is leading in 65 wards followed by BJP leading in 48 municipal corporations. The BJP and Shiv Sena are securing a comfortable victory in the remaining eight municipal corporations in MMR, according to trends.
BJP and its allies are trailing in five municipal corporations Chandrapur in Vidarbha, Latur and Parbhani in Marathwada, Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, apart from Vasai Virar in MMR.
In Mumbai, relatives of leaders from various parties have witnessed defeat from various wards. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikar’s daughter lost to Shiv Sena-UBT candidate Lona Rawat in ward 73, while Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Sarvankar’s son Samadhan Sarvankar (Shiv Sena) lost from ward 194 to Nishikant Shinde of Sena-UBT.
Gangster turned politician Arun Gawli’s younger daughter Yogita Gawli also lost from ward 207 in central Mumbai, while former state minister Nawab Malik’s brother Kaptan Malik lost from ward 165 in Kurla.
Other regions
The BJP is leading in both the Pune and Pimpri–Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections, and Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, and Sangli civic bodies of western Maharashtra, while NCP was ahead in Ahilyanagar.
In Pune, the contest is largely between the BJP, which has fielded candidates in all 165 seats, and the alliance of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). As per trends available around 1pm, the BJP was leading or had won about 90 seats, while the NCP alliance was ahead in around 20 seats. The Congress was leading in eight seats.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP was ahead in 75 wards. Candidates of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP were leading in 40 seats, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena was ahead in 10 seats.
Both the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) were ruled by the BJP during the previous five-year term from 2017 to 2022. Thereafter, administrators took charge of the civic bodies after elections were delayed following a Supreme Court stay over the reservation issue. In the PMC, the undivided NCP was the main opposition party, after its decade-long rule from 2007 to 2017 ended with the BJP’s victory in 2017.
In Pune, Congress candidates Prashant Jagtap and Sahil Kedari defeated BJP’s Abhijit Shivarkar and Dhanraj Ghogare respectively.
Elsewhere in western Maharashtra, the BJP was leading in most municipal corporations, including Ichalkaranji, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. In Kolhapur, the BJP was ahead in 27 seats, while the Congress was leading in 23, according to trends. The city witnessed a united front by Mahayuti partners — BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP — to challenge the Congress.
In Ahilyanagar, the BJP and the NCP were locked in a close contest, with the NCP leading in 27 seats and the BJP ahead in 25, as per the latest trends.
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