Mumbai (17.01.2025): Unseating Shiv Sena, which was not the same that contested the last election, in the 2026 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is certainly an achievement for the ruling alliance in Maharashtra. Despite Shiv Sena (UBT) managing to take its number to 65 seats in the BMC which was 84 in 2017 when undivided Shiv Sena contested the election alone, the party is now decimated in the state with its poor performance. Interestingly, if the BJP managed to snatch a few corporations from the Congress, the grand old party also managed to drive out the BJP from two corporations.
But the real battle was for the BMC which is the biggest municipal corporation in Asia having Rs 75000 crore budget which is more than many states in India where BJP-Shiv Sena managed to get 128 seats in 227-member corporation. It is a big setback for Shiv Sena as BMC was the lifeline for the party which is now snapped. Any alliance required 124 members to have its mayor that Mahayuti way passed with the support of three NCPAP members, now they will be even more comfortable. The result has ended an era of the Shiv Sena’s dominance in the BMC and the BJP will now be scripting a new chapter as they claim. Hindutva with development that they have been parroting in every successive election with big bridges, metro and what not to showcase to voters.
Nurtured Muslim votes, they ditched them for their own party
Confusion was caused both side of the alliance with NCPAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar joining hands with his uncle Sharad Pawar in these elections and the Congress, NCPSP and SSUBT not forging the alliance for these elections with some ego clashes causing more confusion among voters. Another emotional drama was played out when Raj Thackrey joined his estranged cousin Uddhav Thackrey for this election.
The BJP completely relied on its state leadership – Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state party president Ravindra Chavan -- and alliance partner Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde. The strategy was clear and it worked for the alliance and they managed to win in all important cities including Pune, Nasik, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Sambhajinagar etc. It appeared a one-sided election except for a few cities like Latur, Bhiwandi and Chanderpur that have gone to the Congress and Vasai Virat to Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. Malegaon will go to the MUSLIM party which is single largest and Parbhani to the Congress and SSUBT. The BJP and SS managed an unprecedented result in Navi Mumbai by winning 108 seats out of 111 which was held by NCP-Congress in 2018. But AIMIM managed to win 125 seats altogether, crossing double digit at least in four-five cities.
The most interesting aspect of the victory of Mahayuti seems to be that they are constantly negating anti-incumbency wherever they go to polls be it Haryana or Bihar in the recent elections. They managed to win the Thiruvananthapuram municipal election by ending the dominance of the Left Front there. The BJP leadership left the entire campaign on the state leadership and they have delivered the goods to the party. All this was made possible with the party working in tandem with ground level workers which has now become a brand equity for it. The most commendable aspect is that despite success after success, no complacency is visible in the party and its leaders from top to bottom.
Since the BMC election was a prestige issue for the BJP and SSUBT, they tried their best to win the elections. Raj Thackrey joining the Shiv Sena as an alliance partner after around 20 years, the reunion of both the cousins had given not only a new hope but also infused a new energy among the party workers who have more to do with the family of Bala Saheb Thackerey than the party ideology. Thackerays cultivated Muslim votes by compromising Balasaheb’s ideology, as their detractors say. They campaigned in the Muslim dominated areas and election advertisements in Urdu were put out all across. But all their efforts failed to bring desirable results except that they got some seats in BMC to remain in the reckoning. Thackerays are wiped out from Thane – another stronghold of the united Shiv Sena. On one hand there was a tough posture of SSUBT on non-Marathi speakers and MNS workers even beating non-Marathi speaking people, on the other advertisement in Urdu were contradictory and not complimentary to their campaign.
If Muslim voters added to the SSUBT-MNS combine then others kept away from it and the last-minute personal attack of Raj Thackrey on former Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai too harmed the SSUBT-MNS combine. Similarly, the comment of Maharashtra BJP president on former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh cost the party dearly which lost in Latur. Besides everything, the polarisation too has its role to play and it was such that AIMIM that had won just one seat in the last election in BMC has won 8 seats and the Samajwadi Party too has won two seats. But this is wrong to say that had the Congress, NCPSP and SSUBT contested together, they would have changed the result of BMC or for that matter in any corporation at least results suggest the contrary. The Congress got 24 which was 31 in 2017 elections.
But the Congress must be applauded for its performance in these elections without getting any support from the Central leadership and without much resources at its disposal in comparison to the BJP-SS. This happened because Muslim votes came to rescue them without any efforts just to defeat the BJP. This will keep on happening till they get an alternative to the Congress as in Malegaon which they have got in the Muslim dominated areas in AIMIM and ISLAM. The alliance is always marred by blabbering of its leader specially the chief spokesperson of the SSUBT Sanjay Raut. This way Raut is very judicious and doesn’t spare anyone including the alliance partners and opponents alike. There is a lot to learn for SSUBT and the Congress from these elections but unfortunately, they are poor learners.
(By Vinod Kumar Shukla)
