The municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra delivered a sweeping verdict in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti, decisively defeating the reunited Thackeray and Pawar factions across urban centres in the state.
The alliance’s most symbolic triumph came in Mumbai, where it ended the Shiv Sena’s decades-long hold over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation , Asia’s richest civic body.
But what do the poll results mean for some key leaders?
Devendra Fadnavis, 55, Maharashtra chief minister
The BJP’s sweeping win in the municipal body polls in Maharashtra, including the prestigious BMC, where it ended the Thackeray dominance of India’s richest civic body after 25 years, is to Devendra Fadnavis’s credit.
For long, the chief minister, now serving his second term, has been labelled as the man from Nagpur. But Friday’s showing where the BJP won 23 of the 29 municipal corporations- a few of them in alliance with the Shiv Sena and the NCP-points to his emergence as a pan-Maharashtra leader, perhaps the first such after Sharad Pawar.
Fadnavis, left in the lurch after the formation of the MVA government in 2019, fundamentally altered Maharashtra’s politics when he engineered a split in Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, two prominent regional parties in the country. In 2022 after the Sena split, Fadnavis even agreed to serve as Eknath Shinde’s deputy despite the BJP having more seats. A poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls followed. But the BJP’s unexpectedly strong showing in the December 2024 Assembly polls, ensured his return as chief minister.
In these civic polls he led the campaign from the front, countering the Thackerays’ nativist rhetoric with a pro-development pitch and welfare schemes. Friday’s win should also put BJP’s allies NCP (AP) and Shiv Sena on guard. Devendra Fadnavis is clearly a man on a mission.
Eknath Shinde, 61, Maharashtra deputy chief minister
The biggest blow to deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde was delivered by Mumbai on Friday. The Shiv Sena, which has since 2022, sought to prove that it is the true inheritor to Balasaheb Thackeray’s legacy, could win only 29 of the 90 seats it contested in the BMC.
Unlike in the first phase of polls in the semi-urban municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats in December last year, where it won 1,025 seats in alliance with the BJP, the elections to the municipal corporations have proved to be a far tougher task for the nascent party. Since the 2024 Assembly elections when he had to take a backseat to Fadnavis, Shinde has been trying to project himself as the mass leader in the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region. In Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivali, Ulhasnagar, Mira-Bhayandar, he contested against the BJP, stoking rebellion, and luring disgruntled aspirants to his side, but he was bested by his partner in all except his home turf of Thane. Still, the Shiv Sena now has a considerable presence in 13 municipal corporations.
Shinde will no doubt try and poach some of Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators in the days ahead to prove his usefulness to the BJP, but even as the Mahayuti celebrates on Friday night, Fadnavis’s resounding success should give him some cause for concern.
Ajit Pawar, 66 Maharashtra deputy chief minister
or deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Friday’s poll results are alarming. His Nationalist Congress Party failed to do well in six municipal corporations in western Maharashtra, his traditional stronghold. Only in Ahilyanagar, formerly Ahmednagar, which it contested in alliance with the BJP, did the party secure the highest number of seats, but it still fell short of a majority on its own.
More worryingly, in Pimpri Chinchwad, the NCP broke away from the Mahayuti and allied with the NCP-SP, but to little effect. Although deputy chief minister, Pawar has tried to present himself as an independent voice, repeatedly targeting the BJP; but Friday’s results will leave him with his back to the wall. It affects not only Pawar’s standing as western Maharashtra’s leading politician–especially one who controlled Pune– but is certain to spark discontentment within his party.
There has been some speculation about a potential merger between the two NCP factions in recent weeks, which will only gain strength after Friday. Having failed to woo urban voters in western Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar now banks heavily on the district councils (zilla parishads) that go to polls in the third phase next month. If he can convince his uncle Sharad Pawar to merge his NCP-SP with the NCP, and stay part of the Mahayuti, it will improve his cachet within the ruling alliance.
Uddhav Thackeray, 65 Shiv Sena (UBT) chief
Uddhav Thackeray, with his back to the wall, fought a sharply-focused campaign in Mumbai. The party, low on funds, chose to focus its energies on Mumbai, relying heavily on nativist rhetoric and the Shiv Sena’s grassroots network. He even partnered with estranged cousin Raj Thackeray. However, it could not stem its slide. For the first time in 25 years the Thackeray family lost control of the BMC which was the party’s biggest source of political clout and money.
However, the sharp campaign that Thackeray mounted around the welfare of the Marathi manoos, has led to the party retaining a large part of its core voter base. But with Mumbai’s demographic itself undergoing a significant change, it will be a challenge for Thackeray to stay relevant, something that will require him to reimagine his politics — especially with the collapse of the MVA. Thackeray’s own term as Member of Legislative Council ends this May, and it is to be seen whether he will come back in the state’s upper house or choose to guide the party from Matoshree. His short-term challenge will be to stem possible defections in the coming days.