How Maharashtra local body results place BJP on stronger footing within Mahayuti

The BJP came into focus in Maharashtra in 1980 when it won 14 seats with a 9.38% vote share.

It was the BJP’s biggest solo moment in Maharashtra on Sunday when it dominated elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats by emerging as the single largest party.

The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP recorded a resounding victory in elections to 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, securing 207 posts of municipal presidents and leaving the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) reeling with just 44.

Of the 288 seats, 286 had gone to polls in two phases on December 2 and 20. In two other municipal councils, candidates had been elected unopposed.

In a state where BJP has only ruled only through alliances, this win strengthens the party’s position in the state and also within the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

The BJP came into focus in Maharashtra in 1980 when it won 14 seats with a 9.38% vote share. Since then, the party has seen consistent electoral progress in the state which was always known to be a Congress stronghold.

The BJP won 16 seats in the 1985 assembly election, which increased to 42 in 1990, with the BJP forming an alliance with the Bal Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in 1989.

The party won 65 seats in the 1995 assembly election when the BJP-Shiv Sena combine formed the government in the state. The party’s seat tally remained in the range of 50 seats per election until 2009, with the Congress-NCP coalition government ruling the state from 1999 to 2014.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the state in the 2014 assembly election, maintaining it in 2019. In the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election, the BJP logged the highest vote share of 26.77 per cent in the state by winning 132 out of 149 seats it had contested.

The BJP, which got 7 per cent votes in the 1985 Assembly election, got more than 25 per cent in the last three Assembly elections in the state. With the victory in municipal councils and nagar panchayats, the party is strengthening its position in the state where it never fought or won independently.

With this result, the BJP strengthens its claim to leadership not just in the coalition but also at grassroots levels across Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis already said the BJP’s performance is an indication of how things would unfold in BMC polls. He has already declared that the Maharashtra BJP would go solo for the 2029 Lok Sabha election.

The electoral performance of the BJP over the years has made it almost twice as large as other parties in the state. It has indicated the party is doing all it can to reach its longtime goal of “Shat Pratishat BJP” (100 per cent BJP).

Within Mahayuti, the BJP itself won the highest number of seats, making it larger than its alliance partners Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). This may give it clear bargaining power within the Mahayuti coalition and give BJP an even stronger say in policy decisions, leadership roles at local bodies and seat allocation strategies for upcoming polls.