Story so far: Civic bodies across Maharashtra are finally slated to get elected corporators as the Maharashtra State Election (SEC) has written to the government to begin delimitation of the wards. Post-delimitation, the reservation of seats, voter roll updation will occur, said the SEC to The Hindu on Friday (March 23, 2025).

Twenty-nine municipal corporations across the state have been run by administrators as their terms expired in the past three years.

“We have asked the government to begin with the delimitation. The Other Backwards Classes (OBC) categorisation will come afterwards. The government will send us for final approval post-delimitation of the wards,” said Mr. Jagdish More, SEC Assistant Commissioner (Public Relations).

When asked for an approximate date for polls to be held, he said, “Under normal circumstances, the election process begins six months prior to expiry of the concerned local bodies. However, this is a special circumstance, and we will begin the poll process once the government reverts”. 

The nudge from the poll body came mere days after the Supreme Court directed the SEC to notify the local body elections within four weeks, maintaining the OBC quota prior to the Banthia Committee report’s recommendation – a flat 27%. While the court set a four-month deadline for holding polls, the SEC is allowed to approach the SC in case further time is required.

The term of India’s richest civic body – the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with other large civic bodies in Pune, Nagpur and Nashik, ended in March 2022. Terms of civic bodies in Navi Mumbai, Vasai Virar, Kalyan Dombivli, Kolhapur and Aurangabad ended much earlier in 2020. By February 2024, all twenty nine civic bodies’ terms have expired.

Why have civic elections been delayed?

Initially, COVID-19 outbreak delayed holding polls. Later, delimitation and OBC reservation emerged as two thorny issues due to which civic body elections have been delayed across Maharashtra. The absence of a state election commissioner also added to the delay. 

On the delimitation front, the then-Uddhav Thackeray government had redrawn Mumbai’s wards increasing the seats in the BMC from 227 to 236. Following this, SEC began the delimitation process in February 2022. However, the Shiv Sena split leading to the toppling of Mr. Thackeray’s government and the subsequent Eknath Shinde government withdrew this order in August 2022. In April 2023, the Bombay High Court upheld this order. Challenges to this order are pending in the Supreme Court. 

On the OBC reservation front, the state and the apex court have tussled over three years. On July 7 2022, the Banthia Commission report recommended upto 27% reservation for OBCs. Estimating that OBCs made up 37% of the state’s total population, the committee recommended three options for urban and rural local bodies – (i) If SC/ST population higher than 50%, then no OBC reservation (ii) In other cases, no reservation (iii) Upto 27% reservation for OBCs in seats remaining after SC/ST reservation. Under no circumstance were quotas allowed to exceed the 50% cap set by the SC. 

On July 21, 2022, the report was accepted by the Supreme Court, however it clarified that the SEC must not re-notify the election programme in 367 local bodies, which included the BMC, to provide reservation. A day later, SEC reclassified wards in the BMC, reserving 63 of the 236 seats for the OBCs. An irked SC warned the SEC to not renotify the election programme, ordering a status quo in OBC reservations in local body elections. It ordered the SEC to reclassify OBC-reserved seats as general and hold polls. Both state government and the SEC have cited challenges to this order as a reason to delay in elections. 

Thirdly, the state’s election commissioner Mr. Urvinder Pal Singh Madan’s term expired in October 2024, leaving the top post vacant.

What has changed now?

Politically, power has shifted decisively to the Mahayuti – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena. While the Maha Vikas Agahdi (MVA) comprising of Congress, NCP-SP and Shiv Sena (UBT), had managed to trump the Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha polls in June 2024 winning 30 of the 48 seats (Congress – 13, Sena (UBT) – 9 and NCP-SP – 8), within six months, the tide turned and the Mahayuti won 230 seats (BJP – 132, Shiv Sena – 57 and NCP – 41) in 288-member Assembly. 

Recently, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis stated that the Mahayuti will contest the civic elections as a unit. Addressing reporters in Pune, he said that in certain wards where seat-sharing is not feasible, some candidates may contest independently. He also added that his government will adhere to the SC’s directions to ensure civic polls are held on time. 

In contrast, the MVA has remained noncommital in running unitedly. While Congress and NCP-SP have stated that their leadership will take a call on contesting unitedly, Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut ruled out any alliance in Mumbai. He added that a call would be taken on other civic bodies but would prefer if the polls were held after the monsoon season. 

A heartening sign is the appointment of senior IAS officer Dinesh T. Waghmare has been appointed as the state election commissioner on January 20. Serving a non-renewable term of five years, Mr. Waghmare has been tasked with electoral roll preparation and conducting elections for Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samitees, Gram Panchayats, Municipal Corporations, and Municipal Councils across the state.

Sena’s tussle for Mumbai

The BMC is the last frontier for the Shiv Sena as it has ruled the civic body since 1985 (barring 1992-1996). Mumbai, where the Thackerays have sizeable influence, has seen the Sena vote split evenly between Mr. Eknath Shinde and Mr. Uddhav Thackeray.

In the Lok Sabha, Mr. Shinde managed to win seven of the thirteen seats where he clashed head-on with Mr. Thackeray. Even in the assembly polls, where the two factions faced off in 11 seats in Mumbai, Mr. Shinde managed to win five seats while Mr. Thackeray retained six. Both poll victories have surged Mr. Shinde’s influence in the Mahayuti, and he has been retained as Deputy CM with Urban Development in his portfolio. He has also emerged as a true heir to the Shiv Sena legacy, which has remained a Thackeray heirloom till now. 

As Mr. Shinde’s power grows, signs of reconciliation between Mr. Thackeray and his estranged cousin, Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), have emerged. Recently, the MNS chief said, “For Maharashtra, the existence of Marathi manoos (native Marathi-speakers), these fights are very trivial. I don’t think it is a difficult task to come together and stay united”. In response, the Sena (UBT) chief said that he was ready to put aside trivial fights, provided that ‘those working against Maharashtra’s interests’, referring to Mr. Shinde, were not entertained.

Moreover, BJP is seeking to expand its domain into Mumbai. In the last BMC elections in 2017, the undivided Shiv Sena, which won 84 seats was nearly dethroned by the BJP which won 82 seats. Due to neither party winning an outright majority in the 227-seat corporation, BJP struck as bargain allowing allowing Sena to retain the mayor’s post. However, with the BJP-Sena coalition falling apart in 2019, BJP seeks to break through Sena’s power centre and install Mumbai’s first BJP mayor.