India, Dec. 1 -- The ruling Mahayuti seems to be dominating the campaign for the first phase of local body polls, in which 246 municipal councils and 42 municipal panchayats that govern smaller cities go to polls on Tuesday. The three-party coalition has unleashed a high decibel campaign in several cities creating a perception that the Opposition parties are nowhere to be seen.

Significantly, the MVA partners have chosen to keep their campaign pretty low profile. As far as Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is concerned, party insiders say the top priority for the leadership is to win the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, which are expected in January. While the leadership is focussing on the last phase of the local p...