In the last few years, Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in Maharashtra. Ever since the BJP came to power in Maharashtra, be it Municipal polls or Panchayat polls, BJP has showed a strong performance in all. In the Bombay Municipal Elections (BMC), the BJP faced Shivsena and the NCP-Congress coalition and it surprised everyone with its splendid performance. The BJP ended the monopoly of Shivsena in BMC. It had won whopping 82 seats out of 227 and Shivsena managed to win 84 seats and thus forcing the Shivsena to make BJP a partner in every major decision. The BJP has continued delivering outstanding performances in Zila Parishad elections and Gram Panchayat polls. With its performance, it has outsmarted Shivsena, NCP and Congress.
The BJP is gearing up for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. As the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, Shivsena and the BJP are making it quite clear that they will go alone in the elections. The NCP and the Congress are going to fight together in Maharashtra. Now, the moot question is how the state’s electoral arithmetic would look like with such a formation? The local body polls of Nagpur give us a glimpse of it.
In Nagpur, the BJP and Shivsena contested elections separately, while the NCP and the Congress fought in the alliance. Such an equation should have divided the saffron votes and consolidated opposition votes, but nothing happened as such. Instead, the saffron wave swept the entire city.
The Bharatiya Janata Party conquered the majority of the seats and it also managed to win the post of civic chief in the newly formed Wanadongri and Parseoni municipal councils. Shivsena managed to win the post of council president of Parseoni in the direct election for the post.
The BJP won 19 out of 21 seats in Wanadongri. The NCP had to settle with one seat while an independent won one seat. In Parseoni, the BJP emerged victorious on 11 out of 17 seats. Shivsena bagged 4 seats including that of the civic chief, while the Congress party managed to grab only two seats.
The results show that the BJP is super strong in Maharashtra and way ahead of its rival when it comes to groundwork and popularity. Despite the fact that some anti-social and megalomaniac elements tried to destabilize the state and to turn particular sections of Maharashtrian against the BJP, the party remained strong, its popularity among the Maharashtrian increased and it remains the preferred party in the state.
Maharastra CM Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as one of tallest of the state. Fadnavis has clearly taken Maharashtra by storm. The way he has handled a hostile ally, continuing to run the government and at the same time showing them their place, is brilliant politicking. He has proved himself a mass leader. Devendra Fadnavis holds the fort for BJP in Maharashtra. His popularity and political acumen remained unmatched.
Shivsena has emerged as the biggest loser in all this. Uddhav Thackeray has been a complete failure as a politician. Since Shivsena under the leadership of Uddhav has separated its path from the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is in self-destruction mode. If this trend continues, then one thing is for sure- Shivsena will become completely irrelevant and a political joke in Maharashtra in the times to come. Nagpur municipal elections have demonstrated this fact sufficiently.