Maharashtra political crisis: Shiv Sena battle spills over to local polls

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's group of Shiv Sena got a shot in the arm in Thane, with over 60 former corporators joining the fold on Thursday. The Shinde camp has set out to get former/sitting public representatives in other cities and towns as well, even as the Uddhav Thackeray faction has expanded its outreach programme to contain the attrition, with strongholds like Mumbai being paramount on its agenda.

In Shinde's fiefdom Thane, the exodus happened on the expected lines. The group claimed it got 66 of the 67 former Sena corporators from Thane. Meanwhile, with the new government in place, there is apprehension about a further delay in local body polls.

Also read: BJP on spree to kill all Shiv Sena's dream projects in Mumbai

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis congratulates Eknath Shinde as he officially takes charge of the CM office, on Thursday. Pic/DGIPRMaharashtra

The local self-government polls were earlier delayed, because the Supreme Court was hearing a case for restoration of quota for the other backward classes (OBCs). However, when the erstwhile government failed to submit the empirical data, the SC asked the state election commission (SEC) to hold the polls without the OBC quota. The former MVA government then increased the number of seats in the house of local bodies, and redrew civic ward boundaries. The BJP and the Congress disputed the process in many places, including in Mumbai, arguing that the reformation benefits the Sena.

Big cities, towns at stake

Abiding by the SC's May 4 order, the SEC sent instructions to 14 municipal corporations. The poll process in corporations has reached the stage of finalising electoral rolls while it is in different stages in other local bodies. The most crucial part of this year's mini-Assembly polls is that most populated civic bodies in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)--Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Ulhasnagar and Kalyan Dombivli will have their new representatives elected. This area elects about 60 MLAs and the highest number of corporators in the state. The local body polls in the urban and rural areas give parties a sense of political swing before the Assembly polls.

Will new govt redraw wards?

People in the Opposition have been speculating that the Shinde group and BJP will not go to the polls as per the wards redrawn by the previous government, at least not in all places. The Shinde group is also attempting to seize the Sena's poll symbol - bow and arrow and also get as many leaders with electoral merit on its side.

A Congress leader feels that since the BJP objected to the reformation of wards and their boundaries, the new government may redraw the wards once again and also reverse the decision of increasing the number of representatives. "The government can do it by making changes in the legislature. It may not change things that were agreed upon. But any change will delay the elections further," he said, adding that the time thus available could be used for getting the OBC case settled in the SC by submitting the empirical data. A dedicated commission working on the OBC data had asked for a one-month extension before the MVA government went out. The method of verification of caste status by reviewing the last name of the family was challenged by the BJP. Immediately after his swearing in, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had convened a meeting of officers concerned to get the data collection expedited. He had assured the restoration of the OBC quota.

Mumbai crucial for BJP

Getting power in the BMC tops the BJP's agenda. As of now, the poll-bound local bodies, whose terms have expired, are directly under the state government's control. The Sena's existence in the BMC and other bodies, by way of the then government, has come to an end.

Fadnavis and Shinde have taken upon themselves to make most of it and clean up the "mess" they (the BJP in particular) had alleged. The priority will be to prepare a favourable pitch using a vast authority at hand--the advantage that had been lying with the Sena till last month. Defections from parties to the BJP and Shinde faction cannot be ruled out. In 2017, the BJP missed forming the government in the BMC by a whisker and also because of the arrangement it had with the Sena then. The situation has completely changed now, with Shinde group ready to dent the Sena's uninterrupted rule since 1997. The BJP will reciprocate in the local bodies where Shinde has greater stakes.

Being a party that remains in the election mode 24X7, the BJP is all prepared to seize the ball that goes rolling any time soon. SEC insiders say the polls in the rain-affected cities in the MMR will not be held before the monsoon recedes. Politicians expect it to be anywhere between September and October.