The Supreme Court has recently directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to notify the local body polls within four weeks and complete polling within four months.
The Maharashtra government has issued orders to begin the long-pending process for 29 municipal corporations in the state. The municipal corporations include Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Navi Mumbai and other areas.
In the run up to the polls, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, will contest the election together.
However, he added that there will be a friendly fight in some seats where an alliance would not be possible.
“Our state president, working president, election committee have the right to decide on the alliance in the local body elections. No one else. Our role is that we will contest the elections under the Mahayuti. In some places, where it is not possible, there is a friendly fight,” Fadnavis said, according to news agency ANI.
The local body polls in Maharashtra are to be held for 29 municipal corporations, including newly formed Jalna and Icchalkaranji, 257 municipal councils, 26 district councils and 289 panchayat samitis.
Fadnavis’ announcement of Mahayuti going solo on some seats is not new for Maharashtra.
Earlier, though BJP and undivided Shiv Sena had long-standing alliance, the two parties contested local body elections independently.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), constituting Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) and Congress, is unlikely to come together for the local body polls.
Uddhav Thackeray, in January this year, said Shiv Sena (UBT) would contest the local body elections independently.
The last local body election was held in Maharashtra in 2018. The terms of most bodies has expired by 2022-23. An administrator deputed by the state government has been running them since then.
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