Maharashtra: BJP alliance wins 68 seats in civic polls without voting
text_fields
Mumbai: Sixty-eight candidates of Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti coalition were elected unopposed in municipal elections on Friday, nearly two weeks before polling is scheduled, India Today reported.
The results emerged after the deadline to withdraw nominations ended on Friday, with several Opposition candidates pulling out. Of the 68 candidates elected unopposed, 44 belong to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the largest share in Thane district’s Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. BJP candidates also secured unopposed wins in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Panvel, Bhiwandi, Dhule, Jalgaon, and Ahilyanagar.
The BJP’s ally, the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, won 22 seats unopposed, while the remaining two were won by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group, India Today reported.
Despite these victories, the unopposed wins alone are insufficient for the ruling alliance to secure control of any municipal corporation. Polling in 29 municipal corporations across the state is scheduled for January 15, with vote counting set for January 16.
The Opposition has criticised the unopposed elections, alleging that democracy is being undermined through threats from central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate or by bribing Opposition candidates. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi claimed that the BJP-led alliance was “trying to buy out their victories,” ANI reported. “The unopposed way of ending democracy where they settle with the Opposition candidate, either by scaring them with threats from the ED, CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] or by bribing them,” she said.
In response, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) sought reports from the municipal corporations where candidates were elected unopposed, PTI reported. This action comes amid allegations of irregularities in the filing of poll nominations. The poll panel will examine whether candidates who withdrew nominations were pressured, bribed, or subjected to coercive tactics. The SEC has stated that returning officers will not formally announce unopposed election results until the reports are submitted, Hindustan Times reported. Officials described the action as procedural, ANI quoted an unidentified source as saying.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Rekha Redkar filed a complaint with the SEC, alleging that the returning officer in a ward of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation did not allow her to file her nomination on the final day. “The poll machinery is biased,” she told Hindustan Times. “They allowed BJP candidates to submit documents, including affidavits, even after the 3 pm deadline, whereas I was not even given a token despite arriving well before the deadline. I have requested the CCTV footage of all the wards to prove my point of bias.”
BJP leader and Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol described the unopposed wins as a reflection of the party’s governance record, PTI reported.
The SEC also sought a report from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner following allegations that Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar had pressured a returning officer to prevent Opposition candidates from filing nominations. On Friday, the Congress demanded action against Narwekar for an alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct, after a video circulated widely on social media reportedly showed him threatening Opposition candidates, The Hindu reported.
The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the election panel for political parties, candidates, and governments to follow during elections, covering speeches, meetings, processions, and other electoral activities. Narwekar, however, dismissed the allegations as baseless.