Elections to various municipal
corporations in Maharashtra have been completed, and the Bharatiya Janata Party
has emerged as the principal victor. Out of a total of 2,869 corporators across
all municipal corporations, the party-wise distribution is as follows: BJP 1,459
seats, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) 399, Congress 324, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction)
167, Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) 155, AIMIM 114, Sharad Pawar faction 36, MNS
13, BSP 06, Independents 19, and smaller parties 215.
According to these results, the
opposition’s strength is concentrated mainly in Latur, Vasai–Virar, Chandrapur,
Malegaon, Parbhani, and Bhiwandi–Nizampur municipal corporations, where they
may elect their Mayor. However, this cannot be considered easy. Observing the
functioning of the ruling parties in Maharashtra, it is evident that even in
corporations where they lack a majority, they will attempt to install their own
mayor. Through the use of “saam, daam, dand, bhed,” newly elected opposition
corporators may be influenced—something that has now become a familiar pattern
in the country. The anti-defection law has become ineffective, resembling a
toothless United Nations. Courts too appear largely unmoved in such matters.