Maharashtra Local Polls: BJP Scores Record Victory; Opposition Alleges EVM Tampering, Money Power
Mahayuti alliance sweeps municipal councils and nagar panchayats across state; MVA cries foul over poll conduct
MUMBAI, December 21, 2025 — The ruling Mahayuti alliance has achieved a decisive victory in Maharashtra’s local body elections, securing over 200 seats out of 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as the single largest party with 129 seats. However, the triumph has been overshadowed by serious allegations from opposition parties regarding electoral malpractices.
The results, declared on Sunday following counting that began at 10 am, mark a continuation of Mahayuti’s dominance after its landslide victory in the November 2024 state assembly elections where it won 235 of 288 seats.
BJP Dominates Local Body Elections
Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan claimed that the Mahayuti alliance won more than 250 councils, nagar parishads and nagar panchayats. According to current trends, the BJP secured 134 out of 236 council chief posts and over 3,000 corporator seats. The ruling coalition, which includes the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, demonstrated strong coordination throughout the campaign.
The BJP also registered unopposed victories in at least three local bodies — Jamner in Jalgaon district, Dondaicha in Dhule district, and Angar in Solapur district — strengthening the alliance’s position even before full counting was underway.
Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde described the results as a preview of what would unfold in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections scheduled for January 15. He stated that the public’s preference was for development over politics and emphasized that the people had voted for the real Shiv Sena, taking a dig at rival Uddhav Thackeray.
Opposition Raises Serious Allegations
The Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), struggled to make an impact, trailing significantly with only 47 seats according to early trends.
However, opposition leaders vehemently rejected the results, alleging widespread electoral malpractices.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut made strong accusations regarding EVM manipulation, stating that the machines used were the same as those employed during the Vidhan Sabha elections with identical settings. He claimed the opposition faced an overwhelming surge of money during the polls, alleging that approximately Rs 150 crore was spent on municipal council elections whose combined budgets barely amount to Rs 30 crore.
Raut further alleged that chartered flights and helicopters, never previously used for civic body elections, were deployed this time. He also accused the ruling parties of immediately engaging in horse-trading after vote counting, citing the example of a Shiv Sena (UBT) municipal council president from Srivardhan being lured by the Eknath Shinde-led faction.
State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal congratulated winning party candidates but sarcastically “congratulated” the State Election Commission for allegedly assisting the ruling Mahayuti alliance. His party colleague Ambadas Danve attributed Mahayuti’s victory to “money and muscle power.”
Controversial Polling Incidents
The elections were marred by several controversial incidents. In Ambernath Nagar Parishad in Thane district, the BJP alleged that 208 suspicious bogus voters were present in ward number 28. Police reportedly detained these 208 women for verification. The Nationalist Congress Party also claimed cash distribution occurred in the same ward, with two individuals allegedly caught red-handed.
Political observers noted that controversial unopposed wins in certain constituencies highlighted the dominance of entrenched local power networks and what they termed as “Bahubali” politics.
Election Commission Defends Poll Integrity
Earlier, following similar allegations after the November 2024 assembly elections, Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam had firmly rejected opposition claims of EVM tampering. He stated that no discrepancy was found between VVPAT slip counts and EVM control unit counts from 1,440 VVPAT units across 288 assembly constituencies.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Kulkarni had also asserted that EVMs cannot be hacked, explaining that the chips used are one-time programmable, making tampering impossible. He emphasized that EVMs are standalone machines with no network connections.
Despite these assurances, the opposition continues to raise questions about the electoral process, with several candidates from the November assembly polls having already filed applications seeking EVM verification.
Political Significance
The local body poll results are being viewed as a crucial political indicator ahead of the high-stakes BMC elections in January 2026. The outcome demonstrates the ruling alliance’s organizational strength at the local level and its ability to mobilize cadres in smaller urban centers.
For the MVA, the results raise concerns about coordination among alliance partners and their capacity to challenge the ruling coalition outside assembly and Lok Sabha contests. The opposition’s inability to convert its June 2024 Lok Sabha success — when it won 31 of 48 seats — into local body victories has surprised political analysts.
Chavan dismissed opposition allegations, stating that voters had rejected what he called the opposition’s “fake narrative.” He expressed confidence that Mumbaikars would similarly reject the opposition in the upcoming BMC polls, emphasizing that the same party being in power at both the Centre and state level benefited the state.
The elections were conducted in two phases on December 2 and December 20, with polls held for 286 municipal councils and nagar panchayats. The campaigns witnessed both alliances contesting against their own partners in several constituencies, creating multi-cornered contests.
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