The trends of the civic body elections in Maharashtra, including in the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, till Friday night show that the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has delivered a mixed performance across cities.
The party has retained its dominance in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and is also likely to emerge as the single-largest party in the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), putting it in a position to claim the mayor’s post in both civic bodies.
However, beyond these pockets, the party has struggled to match its past strength and is unlikely to lead the civic administration in Mumbai and several other key municipal corporations.
This is a big change from the past, when the Shiv Sena dominated local bodies in urban Maharashtra, especially in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The BMC, for example, was the power centre of the undivided Sena for the past 20-25 years, with the party controlling the civic body for over two decades.
The results will be a bitter pill for Shinde, whose party entered the elections with strong organisational support, the undivided Shiv Sena’s name and poll symbol, and the backing of the ruling alliance.
After the Shiv Sena split in 2022, a majority of the party corporators elected in 2017, along with MLAs and MPs from key areas in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhayandar, and cities like Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, had rallied behind Shinde. On paper, this gave him a clear advantage. However, the voting trends show that this did not fully translate into public support across regions.
Thane and KDMC remain the key pillars of strength for the Shinde-led Sena. In Thane, the party has once again emerged as the largest force. In the 2017 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena had won 67 of the 131 seats here, while the BJP had won 23. As per the final figures released by the State Election Commission on Friday, the Shinde Sena won 75 seats, while the BJP is ahead in over 28 seats.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has won only one seat, and the remaining seats are split among the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions and Congress.
The seats won by Shinde-led Sena keep the party firmly in control of the civic body.
Even in Thane, the results show signs of weakness. In Ward 13, where Shinde lives, the Shinde Sena candidate and former mayor Ashok Vaiti lost to Sena (UBT) candidate Shahaji Khusphe by 667 votes. Khusphe got 12,860 votes, while Vaiti got 12,193. Ward 13 has four seats. The Shinde Sena won three of them, but losing the most high-profile contest has political meaning. It shows that voter loyalty has not fully shifted with the party organisation.
A weak show outside core strongholds
In the BMC, the undivided Shiv Sena had 84 corporators in 2017. This time, the party managed to win around 25, even though it contested 90 seats with the BJP. The Shiv Sena (UBT), on the other hand, won in 60 wards.
While the BJP-Sena alliance has crossed the majority mark, the Shinde faction does not have enough numbers to claim the mayor’s post on its own in Mumbai.
In the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the Shinde Sena has managed a more respectable performance compared to several other cities, though it remains far behind its ally. In 2017, the undivided Sena had 38 seats, while the BJP had only seven. Now, results of Navi Mumbai show the BJP has won 65 seats, while the Shinde Sena won on 42 seats.
While this reflects a sharp rise for the BJP, the Shinde-led Sena has still retained a significant presence in the civic body.
In the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, the undivided Sena had 22 corporators earlier. This time, the BJP has swept most wards. The Sena has been reduced to just two seats in one split ward and has no real say in running the civic body.
The pattern repeats itself outside Mumbai
In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where the undivided Sena earlier had 28 seats, the BJP won 57, while the Shinde Sena won only 13. In Nashik, where the undivided Sena once had 35 corporators, has now got 26 seats till late night. In Nashik, the BJP has got 72 seats
Unease in Shiv Sena–BJP ties damaged the prospects?
Political observers say one major reason for this uneven performance is the uneasy relationship between the Shinde Sena and the BJP before the polls. In the weeks leading up to voting, Shinde Sena ministers skipped a cabinet meeting, upset over alleged attempts by the BJP to attract Sena leaders. Shinde later went to Delhi to raise complaints about BJP state chief Ravindra Chavan. Even though both parties said the alliance was strong, cooperation on the ground was weak in many places.
Where BJP and Sena workers did not work together, votes either split or moved to the BJP. This helped the BJP and hurt the Shinde Sena.
The trends make the picture clear. In Mumbai, the Sena’s strength has fallen from 84 corporators in 2017 to around 28 for the Shinde Sena.
In Thane, it gained 75 seats compared to previous 67 and the party remains the single-largest force. In KDMC too, the Shinde Sena has emerged on top, strengthening its hold over key civic bodies in the MMR. In Navi Mumbai, the Sena has gone from up from 38 to 43. However, it’s far behind BJP. In Mira-Bhayandar, the Sena has gone from 22 to almost nothing.
Taken together, the trends till Friday night show that while Shinde remains powerful in the state government, his party’s strength in civic bodies has narrowed to a few strongholds.
With control likely in Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli, but limited influence elsewhere, the results underline both the party’s retained bases and the challenges it faces against a stronger ally.
The trends show the Shinde-led Sena is leading in only around 28 wards, even though it contested 90 seats with the BJP. (File Photo) 
Share
