Mumbai, Dec. 15 -- Elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the cash-rich Mumbai, on January 15 will be a crucial political showdown between the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in major urban centres a year after assembly polls.
The poll schedule announcement was made by Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday in compliance of an order from the Supreme Court fixing January 31 next year as the deadline for holding the long-pending local body elections in the state.
The court in September this year had also censured the SEC for its "failure to take prompt action" and adhere to earlier timelines.
The elections, involving 2,869 seats and over 3.48 crore voters, set the stage for a crucial political showdown between the ruling Mahayuti comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Opposition MVA coalition of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP.
Votes will be counted on January 16.
Asia's largest civic body with more than Rs 74,000 crore budget in 2025-26, the BMC was ruled by the undivided Shiv Sena with the BJP as its junior ally for more than two decades till 2017 and the polls will be a litmus test for former CM Uddhav Thackeray and his party Shiv Sena (UBT).
Ahead of the polls, Uddhav Thackeray mended ties with his once-estranged cousin Raj and both Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by the latter are expected to join hands to put up a united fight.He said elections to 12 Zilla Parishads, where the reservation limit is up to 50 per cent, will be announced soon, taking into consideration the apex court directives about quota. The SC had asked the SEC to conduct elections by January 31.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.