Mumbai, Dec 31 As scrutiny of nomination papers for the elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra concluded on Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made early gains, with six of its candidates being elected unopposed even before polling. The developments have given the party an early momentum ahead of voting scheduled for January 15.
In the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), the BJP registered a hat-trick of unopposed wins. Rekha Chaudhary was elected unopposed from Ward 18-A, an OBC-reserved seat. A veteran corporator and district president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, she was the sole nominee from the ward. Asawari Navre, contesting for the first time and hailing from a family associated with the RSS, secured an unopposed victory from Ward 26-C. Ranjana Perkar was elected unopposed from Ward 26-B, completing the party’s trio of early wins in KDMC.
BJP state president Ravindra Chavan congratulated the winners and noted that the party’s account was opened by women leaders. He also facilitated a video call between the three unopposed candidates and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In the Panvel Municipal Corporation, BJP candidate Nitin Patil was elected unopposed from Ward 18-B after the nomination of his sole rival, Rohan Gawand of the Peasants and Workers Party, was rejected during scrutiny due to an invalid caste certificate.
The BJP also secured two unopposed seats in the Dhule Municipal Corporation. In a notable political development, Ujjwala Bhosale -- wife of NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) city district president Ranjit Bhosale -- joined the BJP just two days ago. Her election was confirmed after nominations of all rival candidates were rejected during scrutiny. Jyotsna Praful Patil was also elected unopposed from Ward 6-B, as no other candidate filed nomination against her.
Most of the unopposed victories resulted either from rejection of rival nominations on technical grounds or from the absence of challengers in reserved wards.
Commenting on the developments, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that while every seat is important, an unopposed victory reflects a high degree of public trust and lack of viable opposition in certain pockets. Party leaders said the early successes have boosted cadre morale ahead of the main polling day.
The municipal elections have also exposed fault lines within the ruling Mahayuti alliance. While the BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) have a seat-sharing arrangement in Mumbai and Thane, the alliance failed to reach consensus in 24 of the 29 municipal corporations. As a result, constituent parties — BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP — will contest against each other in several cities, including Jalna, Parbhani, Latur, Amravati, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Solapur, Akola, Malegaon, Nanded, Nagpur, Sangli, Nashik, Dhule, Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar.
The BJP–NCP (Ajit Pawar) alliance is limited to Akola, Ahilyanagar and Panvel, while the BJP–Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance is in place only in Chandrapur, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Bhiwandi.
In addition, Mahayuti constituents will be in direct contests in Ichalkaranji (friendly fight), Kolhapur, Jalgaon and Panvel.
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