UBT test in bastions; Mahayuti aims to cement 2024 win
The Supreme Court has directed the Maharashtra Election Commission to conduct local body polls within four months, a crucial test for parties like the UBT Sena, which traditionally holds power in key civic bodies such as Mumbai and Thane. These elections are also vital for the Mahayuti alliance to validate their 2024 assembly win.
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Decks have been cleared for holding the local body polls in Maharashtra, with the Supreme Court on Tuesday asking the Maharashtra Election Commission to notify and hold the elections within four months. The local body polls, dubbed as the mini assembly polls in Maharashtra, are being looked at with keen interest this time as they would determine the fate of parties like the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) Sena.Twenty-nine municipal corporations are being run with an administrator since 2022 after the SC had issued a stay due to legal challenges over providing reservation for OBCs in local body polls. However, now civic bodies like those in Mumbai, Thane and Pune, Nagpur, Kalyan Dombivali and others could soon have elections.The Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan Dombivali civic elections would be significant because these have been the traditional strongholds of the Thackerays. The UBT Sena has been relevant in Maharashtra in spite of coming to power only twice because it has been in power in these civic bodies for several decades.At the same time, the local body polls are also crucial for the Mahayuti alliance as it came to power largely on the back of the Ladli Bahin scheme under which the government has now cut down the beneficiaries. The Mahayuti would be keen to prove that winning the 2024 assembly polls was not a fluke.If the UBT Sena is not able to maintain its hold in civic bodies, its prospects for the 2029 assembly polls would get tougher.Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the Mahayuti would contest the local body polls in alliance with its partners.There are, however, doubts on whether the Maharashtra ECI could hold the polls within four months and there are already talks that the state ECI would approach the Supreme Court to conduct the polls in phases as the four-month deadline would mean holding the polls during the monsoons in September which would not be feasible. Earlier today, the SC said that the poll commission could approach the court to seek an extension in appropriate cases.NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) faction's Maharashtra president Jayant Patil sounded a note of caution over the deadline, saying, "Although it took three years, we are happy with the Supreme Court decision as this would keep the grassroots democracy alive."
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