Mumbai set for high-stakes battle as campaigning for 29 civic body elections ends

Campaigning for the January 15 elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra came to a boisterous end on Tuesday, with candidates from various political parties as well as the independent contenders carrying out roadshows and door-to-door meetings.

A lot is at stake in the polls to the five most-coveted civic bodies – Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Thane, Nagpur, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Nashik Municipal Corporation.

Of the five, the BMC, which is Asia’s richest civic body, is the most prestigious one, where the Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti is making a strong pitch to offset the challenge from the once-estranged Thackeray cousins – Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Raj Thackeray – who joined hands after 20 years.

They are banking on the consolidation of Marathi manoos to defeat the BJP, which is banking on a campaign weaved around the majoritarian agenda and development work. The run-up to the election saw the BJP alleging that Mumbai “will have a Muslim mayor if the Sena (UBT) is voted to power”.

Rivals join hands

While the rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party also joined hands for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Parbhani polls, the Congress party stepped out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies — Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — in Mumbai and has aligned with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the capital, while opting to go solo in Nagpur.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took out a bike rally in Nagpur. Mr. Uddhav visited several shakas (party offices in wards) and raised concerns around the distribution of money. He urged party workers and the public not to fall for it. Campaigning in Mumbai’s Dahisar, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “The candidates having the support of women will taste victory in the polls.” He was referring to the response to the Ladki Bahin scheme, which was rolled out under his tenure as CM before the 2024 Assembly poll.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced that polls to 12 zila parishads (ZP) and 125 panchayat samitis in the State will be held on February 5, and counting of votes will take place on February 7. The announcment came a day after the Supreme Court extended the January 31 timeline for completing the poll process for local bodies by two weeks. With that, the model code of conduct has kicked in, it said.