Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Jan 16: What was seen as a last-ditch attempt to revive a divided Nationalist Congress Party ended in a major setback, as the results of Maharashtra’s local body elections on Friday exposed a widespread Pawar failure and underlined the BJP’s growing dominance across the state.

The two warring factions of the NCP — one led by Sharad Pawar and the other by his nephew Ajit Pawar — had come together selectively, cutting across the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Mahayuti lines in an effort to protect their traditional strongholds. However, the strategy failed to yield results, with the BJP comfortably outmanoeuvring the Pawars even in their bastions.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, once considered an impregnable NCP fortress, the BJP extended its dominance after breaking the party’s hold in 2017. Of the 128 seats in the municipal corporation, the BJP surged past the halfway mark with 87 seats, while the combined NCP factions managed just 37. Significantly, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) failed to win a single seat.

The picture was no different in Pune, where the two NCP factions contested separately. The BJP emerged as the frontrunner, leading in 43 seats. Congress trailed far behind with seven seats, while Ajit Pawar’s NCP led in five and the NCP (SP) in only three.

In Mumbai, the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance delivered a decisive blow to the Thackerays’ long-standing grip over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The BJP won or led in 88 of the 227 wards, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena was ahead in 28 seats, taking the alliance well beyond the halfway mark.

Ajit Pawar’s NCP followed a fragmented strategy in the civic polls despite being part of the ruling Mahayuti. In major corporations such as Mumbai, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai, the party either contested independently or with minimal seat-sharing. In Nagpur, for instance, it fought just one seat despite the alliance. In contrast, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Ajit Pawar faction broke away from Mahayuti to reunite with Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), releasing a joint manifesto and fielding candidates together — a move that failed to check the BJP’s advance.

Announcing the reunion in December, Ajit Pawar had said the “parivar” had come together to contest Pimpri-Chinchwad. The move followed his dramatic split from Sharad Pawar in July 2023, when he joined the BJP-led Mahayuti government. The Election Commission later allotted the NCP name and its ‘clock’ symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction.

The two factions had contrasting fortunes in recent elections. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) won eight of the 10 seats it contested, while Ajit Pawar’s faction managed just one of four. However, in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar bounced back, winning 41 of the 59 seats he contested as part of the Mahayuti, which swept the state.

The local body election results, however, tell a different story. They underline the BJP’s sweeping dominance at the grassroots level and highlight the inability of either Pawar faction — together or apart — to counter the saffron party’s expanding footprint across Maharashtra.