Local body elections in Maharashtra: 23 municipal councils and nagar panchayats will begin voting on December 21

Local body elections in Maharashtra:  Voting for 143 open member positions in Maharashtra’s local bodies, including the president and members of 23 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, started on Saturday morning.

Voting will be place from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. The first round of voting for the Maharashtra local bodies election took place earlier on December 2.

Votes for 263 nagar panchayats and municipal councils were gathered in the first phase. Municipal presidents and members had been elected without opposition in several locations.

The BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP were among the governing coalition partners that engaged in friendly competition during the elections.

As the opposition-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the BJP-led Mahayuti clashed, the crucial local body fight took on several dimensions. MVA also attended a few of friendly fights.

NCP-SP Shashikant Shinde, the president of the Maharashtra unit, said on Friday that neither his party nor the incumbent NCP, headed by Ajit Pawar, had submitted any proposals to form an alliance for the next municipal corporation elections. There were rumors of a combined contest in local body elections at the time of the explanation.

“Today, a meeting of our party was held in Pune with poll aspirants and office-bearers,” he said, according to news agency PTI. Applications for the municipal body elections (in Pune) were received from 277 individuals. There have been discussions on a potential political alliance between the two NCPs over the last several days. However, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies and the NCP (SP) are still in negotiations to run together. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), among other new acquaintances, is also open to joining forces.

All municipal councils and nagar panchayats, including those that cast ballots in the first phase, will have their votes counted at 10 AM on December 21, according to a statement from the State Election Commission.