Maharashtra gram panchayat polls on Nov 5, counting the next day

Gram panchayat elections in Maharashtra are not fought on election symbols but these hold importance, especially amid intense rivalry between political parties and leadership, where local-level alliances are formed and broken.

In December 2022, around 7,750 gram panchayats went to polls. The BJP had then claimed the victory saying it had won highest number of member seats. However, the claim was challenged by the opposition saying the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had won highest numbers. With elections being not fought on party symbols, it is difficult to ascertain the veracity of these claims.

The present announcement of elections would also be the first test of Ajit Pawar–led NCP to show its strength. For the NCP, the elections mean an opportunity to reorganise its cadre divided into two groups, following the rebellion of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar against his uncle and party chief Sharad Pawar. The NCP is primarily known as a party with a sizeable rural base, and gram panchayat elections would mean a chance for both Pawars to test the waters before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

For Shiv Sena, a divided house, village-level elections are an opportunity to unite the workers to ensure the victory of like-minded panels. Workers of both national parties, the BJP and the Congress, will also see this as a warm-up before the 2024 general elections.

With urban local body polls unlikely to take place before general elections, this will be the last election for all political parties in the state to prepare for 2024. The Supreme Court hearing regarding the issue of OBC reservation in the urban local bodies has now been kept in November 2023. It would essentially mean that the local body polls will not be held in 2023. With Lok Sabha elections slated to be in March-April 2024, dates of local body polls may even be stretched beyond that.