Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  BJP-Shiv Sena suffer election reverses
BackBack

BJP-Shiv Sena suffer election reverses

The combine trailed Sharad Pawar's NCP in one municipal election and fell short of a majority in the other

A file photo of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Photo: ReutersPremium
A file photo of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Photo: Reuters

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine that rules Maharashtra has suffered reverses in two key municipal elections, trailing Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in one and falling short of a majority in the other.

The NCP under local strongman Ganesh Naik emerged as the single largest party in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, winning 52 out of a total of 111 seats.

In the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, it won 51 seats, missing a majority by six, in an election marked by a stellar performance by the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM).

To be sure, the BJP-Sena combine improved its tally significantly to 44 seats in Navi Mumbai from 17 in 2010. But its hopes of winning the corporation in Wednesday’s election were dashed by infighting.

The BJP and Sena had been hopeful of prising open Naik’s firm hold on the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation after his son Sanjeev Naik’s defeat in the Lok Sabha election from Thane and Naik’s own loss in the state assembly election from Belapur constituency.

After fighting the assembly polls separately following the failure of seat-sharing talks, the long-time allies came together after a post-election rapproachment. The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Maharashtra election and formed a government, after which the Sena reconciled with the party.

“Like assembly elections where both parties contested separately and still emerged as No. 1 and No. 2, had both parties fought separately in municipal elections, too, they would have able to prevent rebellion within their ranks in both municipal corporations," said Prakash Akolkar, political editor of Marathi newspaper Sakal. They could have joined hands later, he added.

In the Aurangabad civic polls, the MIM secured the second spot with 25 of its candidates winning elections. The MIM contested only 54 out of the 113 seats in the corporation. Significantly, five of the 13 Dalit candidates it fielded in the election won seats.

The MIM has been making efforts to build a base in Maharashtra, especially in Muslim-dominated areas, since first tasting success in 2012 when 11 of its candidates were elected to the Nanded Municipal Corporation.

Both Nanded and Aurangabad are major cities in the Marathwada region of the state that were once part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state.

In the October state polls, two MIM candidates were elected to the Maharashtra assembly, including one from Aurangabad.

Unlike in Uttar Pradesh, in Maharashtra attempts to create a consolidated vote bank of Dalits and Muslims have never succeeded. In the late 1980s, one such attempt made by Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Jogendra Kawade and smuggler-turned-politician Haji Mastan made little headway. Another attempt by another RPI politician, Prakash Ambedkar, did not succeeded beyond Akola district in the Vidarbha region.

“The sucess of the MIM in the AMC (Aurangabad Municipal Corporation) election is a reaction by the Muslim community to the two sociopolitical trends," Muslim scholar Abul Kadir Mukadam said. “The first trend is growing disillusionment among Muslims about so-called secular parties like Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, among others, as they feel they are being used just as a vote bank..."

The second trend is concern among Muslims about the growing clout of Hindu communal organizations, which may have prompted them to opt for the MIM, Mukadam said, adding: “However, such competitive communalism would take Muslims nowhere."

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 24 Apr 2015, 12:42 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App