India, Jan. 3 -- A total of 68 candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Mahayuti allies are headed to be elected unopposed in the Maharashtra civic polls scheduled for January 15. While the ruling Mahayuti alliance - primarily comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) and the Ajit Pawar fold of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - leaders hailed the possibility, the Opposition accused them of using threats and money to force rivals to withdraw their nominations before the deadline.

Given the unusually high number of uncontested candidates, the State Election Commission (SEC) has asked returning officers not to declare results in these wards until an investigation is completed, as mentioned in an earlier HT r...