Maharashtra Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections

 

Approximately 35 million voters cast their ballots, and the results of this election have been announced today. In the Maharashtra Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections, the BJP once again emerged as the largest party. But that's not the biggest news. The news is that the two Thackeray factions came together, and despite their unity, the intended message failed to resonate. The message that should have gone out to the villages and towns across Maharashtra, the so-called Thackeray brand, did not have the desired impact in these elections. 

You might say, "But these were local elections. In these elections, the Thackeray factions or their parties weren't contesting together." You're absolutely right, but if you claim there's a Thackeray brand, and that brand comes together, then a message should be conveyed. What happened today? Let's understand the election results in Maharashtra. The BJP has once again become the largest party. The BJP secured 127 seats, and once again, the BJP has demonstrated its dominance within the Mahayuti alliance. After that, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), which holds both the name and the symbol, secured 54 seats. Then, the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) got 37 seats. So, the total number of seats for the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra is 218. Now, let's look at the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which performed exceptionally well in the Lok Sabha elections, but in all subsequent elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has faltered. And these elections show us the same trend. 

The Congress has emerged as the largest party among the opposition in Maharashtra. They secured 31 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) with only nine seats, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) with seven seats. So, the total number of seats is around 47. But this gives us a bigger picture. These local elections in Maharashtra were being called a semi-final for the BMC elections. The BMC election is a major election, and if a party controls the BMC, it's considered equivalent to controlling the state government. So it's clear to us that the semi-finals are complete, and the ruling party, the ruling alliance, has once again demonstrated its strength in this election. The biggest point of discussion, not just in Maharashtra but across the country, was what would happen if the Thackeray brothers came together, if the Thackeray brand united, and joined the Maha Vikas Aghadi – that the tide would turn, and politics in Maharashtra would change. But did that happen? Absolutely not. The party wasn't together in the election, but a message was being sent in different places and in different ways that the Thackerays were fighting. But today, both of them are lying defeated. We need to see and understand how this happened. 

The BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), and Ajit Pawar, understanding the impact of this entire machinery, started working towards the election results three or four months in advance, and what was the benefit? The ruling scheme in Maharashtra is not just limited to certain areas; its results are visible in urban and semi-urban areas as well. So, if we are calling these elections the semi-finals for the BMC elections or the municipal corporation elections, then we need to understand that in urban and semi-urban areas, where urbanization has taken place, the Mahayuti is completely dominating. So, when the assembly elections come in 28 constituencies, we might see a similar scenario there as well. And for the Thackeray brothers, especially for the next elections, it's going to be a do-or-die situation. Because no matter what happens, if the urban population is with the BJP and Mahayuti today, then we might see the same scenario in the future. After this, we will talk about the fact that everything is not well within the Maha Vikas Aghadi. The dates for the BMC elections have been announced. Voting will be on January 15th, counting on the 16th, and even before that, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has broken up. Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) have separated because Uddhav Thackeray wants to go into the BMC elections with his full force and with the support of the state government, while Congress is sitting on the sidelines. 

The Dalits and Muslims went their separate ways, and we need to understand the entire political landscape today, which shows that Congress is the largest party. Although Congress is the largest party in the opposition bloc, the result is that they have the Dalit vote and the rural vote with them. Just like in Gujarat, where Congress appears strong in rural areas, but the BJP leads in urban and semi-urban areas, we see the same pattern in today's overall picture. After this, we will discuss something different. We will discuss how everything wasn't alright within the BJP or the Mahayuti alliance. There was a reason for this in the Konkan region. There was a fight between the Rane brothers, between Nitesh and Nilesh Rane. Nilesh Rane appears to be emerging victorious there, showing that in Konkan, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) is moving forward by defeating the BJP. And then, a senior leader of the Maharashtra BJP, Sudhir Ghantwal, who was a minister in the last two governments, saw the Congress party nominate candidates in his home ground's municipal council. This only happens when there are internal conflicts within your party. We saw the effect of this in the election results. So, the entire result we are seeing today indicates that if this was the semi-final, then the group that is winning now will likely win the final as well. His desire to win is very strong. And if we talk about the future, if the grand alliance contests the next elections together, then the way things are looking right now, there's a clear shift happening across Maharashtra. Because in local elections, one thing is very important: who is in power? Whose influence is stronger? The BJP's influence was strong, and they had a massive influx of new members. And the benefits of this influx are clearly visible in the results today. These results are not only important for today; they are also important for tomorrow, and they show that the BJP is gaining significant ground in Maharashtra.