Will It Be Any Different This Time?

The results of the elections to 27 zilla parishads (ZPs), 305 panchayat samitis (PSs) and 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra have reinforced some commonly held assumptions and unveiled a few new trends. They show that the involvement and familiarity of parties/politicians with the nitty-gritty of local issues and needs won the day. In keeping with this, the Shiv Sena (SS)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with their new ally, the Republican Party of India (Athawale) [RPI (A)], retained hold of four major corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) increased its strength substantially in three.

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), presently governing the state, dominated the ZP results with the former winning 459 and the latter 526 of the 1,639 seats. Their grip on rural Maharashtra continued despite the negative advocacy from Anna Hazare. In fact, in the municipal council elections held a few months ago in Hazare’s Ahmednagar district, of the total 173 seats, the Congress got 80 and the NCP got 37. Nevertheless, the SS and the MNS have made inroads into the rural local bodies, including the ZPs, this time.