Saffron Surge: BJP Crushes NCP in Maharashtra Civic Polls

Mumbai, Jan 2026 : What was seen as a last-ditch effort to reunite the divided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ended in a major setback, as Maharashtra’s local body elections on Friday exposed the Pawars’ declining influence and underlined the BJP’s growing dominance across the state.

The two warring factions of the NCP — one led by Sharad Pawar and the other by his nephew Ajit Pawar — attempted to come together selectively, cutting across the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Mahayuti alliances to protect their traditional strongholds. However, the strategy failed, with the BJP outmaneuvering the Pawars even in their bastions.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, once considered an impregnable NCP fortress, the BJP extended its dominance, building on its 2017 breakthrough. Of the 128 municipal corporation seats, the BJP secured 87, surpassing the halfway mark, while the combined NCP factions managed only 37. Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) failed to win a single seat.

Pune reflected a similar pattern. The two NCP factions contested separately, leaving the BJP clearly ahead. The saffron party led in 43 of the 165 seats. Congress trailed far behind with seven, Ajit Pawar’s NCP led in five, and NCP (SP) in three. These results underscored the BJP’s strong urban presence and the inability of the NCP to consolidate its support, even with selective reunification.

In Mumbai, the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance delivered a decisive blow to the Thackerays’ long-standing hold over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The BJP led in 88 of 227 wards, while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena was ahead in 28, putting the alliance comfortably past the halfway mark and cementing its control of the city.

Ajit Pawar’s faction followed a fragmented strategy in several civic polls, contesting either independently or with minimal seat-sharing. In Nagpur and Navi Mumbai, for instance, the faction fielded candidates only on limited seats, weakening its overall impact. By contrast, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ajit Pawar attempted a brief reunification with Sharad Pawar’s NCP, releasing a joint manifesto and contesting together — a move that ultimately failed to check the BJP’s rise.

The reunification had been announced in December, with Ajit Pawar stating that the “parivar” had come together to contest Pimpri-Chinchwad. The move followed his dramatic split from Sharad Pawar in July 2023, when he joined the BJP-led Mahayuti government. The Election Commission later allotted the NCP name and the iconic ‘clock’ symbol to Ajit Pawar’s faction.

Historically, the two factions had contrasting electoral fortunes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) won eight of the 10 seats it contested, while Ajit Pawar’s faction won just one of four. However, in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar bounced back, winning 41 of 59 seats as part of the Mahayuti alliance, which swept the state.

The local body election results tell a different story. Across Maharashtra’s urban centres, the BJP’s grassroots strength has clearly grown. The party not only secured major victories in long-standing NCP strongholds but also demonstrated the organizational depth and voter reach that the Pawars could not match. The results indicate that the saffron party is now firmly in control of key urban centres and municipal corporations, leaving the NCP struggling to regain lost ground.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)