BMC poll signals

After Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chandigarh the BJP has extended its municipal poll winning spree to Maharashtra where it has spread its footprint far and wide, winning zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls as well. Its prize catch, however, was Pune, which it snatched from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. No less significant was the party finishing a close second to the Shiv Sena in India’s richest municipality, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which has a Rs 37,500-crore budget and unspent cash reserves of Rs 41,000 crore. 

The NCP and the Congress contested the elections separately though the two parties had ruled the state jointly for 15 years from 1999 to 2014. Majorly losing the vote of the poor to the BJP the Congress has retained some presence in rural Maharashtra. In the BMC its seats have reduced to 31 from 52 and the NCP has to make do with nine seats, down from 13. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has had to eat a humble pie with just seven seats in the 227-seat BMC. The anti-incumbency vote, which usually went to other parties when the BJP-Shiv Sena collectively fought the elections, was this time pocketed by the BJP. Mumbai has a considerable Gujarati presence. Apparently, non-Marathi immigrants who are often made to feel insecure by locals, have reposed their trust in Modi's BJP.

The Marathi vote obviously has stayed with Uddhav Thackeray. It was his first BMC election after the death of Balasaheb Thackeray in 2012 and he took a calculated risk by breaking away from the BJP. Though the BJP claims the Maharashtra win is an endorsement of demonetisation, the Shiv Sena had criticised the note ban and it too has improved its electoral tally, even if a clear majority has eluded it. The BJP rise in Maharashtra is rightly attributed to the kind of governance and political skills Devendra Fadnavis has displayed after taking over as Chief Minister. When Uddhav unilaterally terminated the alliance he seized the moment and took control of the party, mounting a strident campaign against corruption in the Sena-controlled BMC. From a little known Vidarbha leader Fadnavis has emerged as a top BJP face in Maharashtra.