MUMBAI, Dec 21— The Bharatiya Janata Party recorded its strongest-ever performance in Maharashtra’s local body elections, winning nearly half the councillor seats and securing control of a majority of municipal councils, prompting sharp allegations from the opposition of electronic voting machine tampering and misuse of money power.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP emerged as the single largest party, with 48% of councillors elected on its symbol and party candidates elected as presidents in 129 municipal councils.
“Forty-eight percent councillors have been elected on the BJP symbol, which is a record. Around 3,300 councillors belong to the BJP, and Mahayuti nominees have been elected as municipal presidents in nearly 75% of the local bodies,” Fadnavis told reporters.
Counting of votes for 286 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, held in two phases, began Sunday morning. The ruling Mahayuti alliance — comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP — contested in both alliance and “friendly fight” formats in several areas.
Fadnavis attributed the results to the party’s organisational strength and development agenda. “We fought the elections on development. I ran a positive campaign based on our work and our roadmap for the future,” he said.
The opposition Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) questioned the outcome. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said the alliance’s victory was driven by manipulation. “There was tampering of EVMs and a hailstorm of money that the opposition could not withstand,” he said.
Congress leader Ambadas Danve alleged that “money and muscle power” influenced the results. State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, in a brief comment, “congratulated” the election machinery for “facilitating” the ruling alliance’s victory.
Rejecting the allegations, Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan said voters had dismissed the opposition’s claims. “People saw through the fake narrative of the opposition and gave a decisive mandate to the Mahayuti,” he said.
