Maharashtra is witnessing a high-stakes battle between the ruling Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) with the counting of votes underway for the state's local body elections on Sunday, December 21. The elections covering 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats of Maharashtra were conducted in two phases. Counting of votes began at 10 am.The elections spannned every division of the state namely -- Konkan (27), Nashik (49), Pune (60), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar/Aurangabad (52), Amravati (45) and Nagpur (55). Each district hosts a mix of long-established Municipal Councils and newly formed Nagar Panchayats. 29 Municipal Corporations and several other Nagar Panchayats will go to polls next year.
The Mahayuti alliance is leading in 9 municipal councils, while the Shiv Sena is ahead in 2 councils. In the Mahayuti alliance, BJP is leading on 7 municipal councils. The Congress lags behind with lead on just two. According to the early trends in vote counting in the Pune district local body elections, the BJP is leading in four wards out of the 21 in the Alandi Municipal Council. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Prajakta Ajinkyarana Patil was elected unopposed as president of the Angar Nagar Panchayat in Solapur district, while BJP candidate Sadhanatai Girish Mahajan was elected unopposed as president of the Jamner Municipal Council in Jalgaon district.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission conducted elections for 288 urban local bodies, comprising 246 Municipal Councils and 42 Nagar Panchayats across all six administrative divisions on December 2 and December 20 in a two-phase election. A total of 1,07,03,576 voters—including 53,79,931 males, 53,22,870 females, and 775 others cast their votes at approximately 13,355 polling stations.