BJP-Led Mahayuti Secures Majority in Maharashtra Zilla Parishad Elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance has secured a substantial majority in the recent Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections across Maharashtra. The BJP emerged as the largest party, winning 225 Zilla Parishad seats, followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 165 seats, and the Shiv Sena with 162 seats.

In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Indian National Congress led with 55 Zilla Parishad seats, followed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) with 43 seats, and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) with 26 seats.

The NCP dominated the Pune Zilla Parishad, winning 51 of the 73 seats. In Raigad, the Shiv Sena secured 23 of 59 seats, while the Eknath Shinde-led party also swept Ratnagiri, winning 41 of the 56 seats. The BJP emerged victorious in Sindhudurg with 27 of 50 seats and also finished as the single largest party in Satara, Solapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, and Latur. The Congress emerged as the single largest party in Kolhapur.

In the 1,462 Panchayat Samiti seats across 125 bodies, the BJP won 459 seats, followed by the NCP with 306 and the Shiv Sena with 302. The Congress won 97 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) 89, and NCP (SP) 46. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena secured two seats, Independents won 31, unrecognised parties registered with the State Election Commission got 36, while parties recognised outside the state but registered with the SEC won 17 seats.

The elections were held on February 7 in 12 Zilla Parishads—Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, and Latur—to elect 731 members along with 1,462 seats in 125 Panchayat Samitis under their jurisdiction.

A total of 2,624 candidates contested the Zilla Parishad polls, and 4,814 candidates were in the fray for the Panchayat Samiti elections.

The elections were originally scheduled for February 5 but were postponed following the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash and the declaration of three days of state mourning.

The voter turnout was 68.28%, with Parbhani district registering the highest participation at 74.89%, while Ratnagiri reported the lowest turnout at 55.79%.

The results are seen as significant for the NCP factions led by the late Ajit Pawar and party founder Sharad Pawar. The two factions had temporarily set aside a bitter two-year rivalry to contest these local body polls in Pune, Satara, Solapur, and Sangli under an informal alliance, fielding candidates under the original 'clock' symbol.