BMC Poll Result: The Hour of Devendra Fadnavis

It doesn’t seem too long ago that Devendra Fadnavis saw his political fortunes dip to a nadir. First, he was caught by surprise when Uddhav Thackeray jumped the National Democratic Alliance ship and formed the government in Maharashtra despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being the biggest party. And then when Fadnavis engineered the BJP back to power, he had to endure being a deputy chief minister under Eknath Shinde. After he brought the state under his reign again as chief minister in the 2024 Assembly election, the municipal corporation results now firmly establish him as the most powerful leader in the state. And there is no one in second place.

The BJP's sweeping performance was the result of Fadnavis micromanaging the campaign, holding extensive rallies across the state while dealing with many shifting alliances. This was an election without the Modi factor, which the BJP relies on, and dominated by local issues. It was entirely a Fadnavis show.

His dependence on allies will become considerably less. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chose to contest separately and have nothing to show for it. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena have fared better but in alliance with the BJP. Both have almost no leverage over Fadnavis now.

 With the BJP controlling most of the municipal corporations and also the state, it becomes easier for Fadnavis to accelerate his development agenda. In Mumbai, for instance, he can make the BMC work in tandem with the state government. Many projects he had initiated, like the coastal road and Metro network, had been delayed because of political upheavals, but he has an obstacle-free runway to complete them and also oversee other flagship development programmes like the redevelopment of Dharavi. There are major infrastructure projects in other cities like Nagpur and Pune. These results place Fadnavis in a position to change the pace of Maharashtra's growth.