Civic elections were held in three Municipal Corporation Panvel, Bhiwandi and Malegaon in Maharashtra, on 24 May. Panvel faced the elections for the first time after it was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation, in October last year.
BJP managed to nail down newly formed Panvel, while Congress acquired Bhiwandi and emerged as the single largest party in Malegaon. So, as per the results, BJP will be able to have its mayor in one and non-BJP parties in two municipalities which have high minority population.
BJP won 51 out of 78 wards in Panvel and Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP)- allied with Congress (INC) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), managed to win 27 seats. PWP contested for 48 seats and won 23 of them. While and NCP and INC contested for 30 seats and won 2 seats each. Shiv Sena could not open its account. Panvel comes under the jurisdiction of Raigad gram panchayat and is 55 kilometres away from Mumbai.It is a fairly urban centre.
In Bhiwandi-Nizampur corporation, Congress won majority of seats numbering 47 out of 90. Shiv Sena won 12 seats, Hindi heartland party won two seats and NCP in alliance with SP, could not open its account. This has been a great victory for BJP as compared to the results of 2012 polls, where it had managed to nail only 26 seats. Bhiwandi is the logistical hub of Mumbai and has a majority Muslim population.
In Malegaon municipality, Congress won 31 seats, while NCP manages to win 25 seats. Shiv Sena acquired 13 seats and BJP has made a strong opening with 9 seats. It is likely that parties may get together to form alliance. There could be many possibilities like, Congress + Shiv Sena or Congress + NCP + JDS or NCP + Shiv Sena + JDS. Like Bhiwandi, Malegaon is also a Muslim majority area.
The result have ended the past two decade dominance of regional parties NCP and Shiv Sena and have bought National parties — BJP and Congress as the principal parties in Maharashtra. The results are likely to increase the already prevailing tension between BJP and Shiv Sena.