BMC Poll Result: The Saffron Squeeze

Eknath Shinde: Winning, Yet Weakened

The second biggest winner of the municipal corporation elections is Eknath Shinde, and this he has managed by coming to terms with the idea that the BJP is the one calling the shots. Shiv Sena has done well in Mumbai but even more so in neighbouring Thane, Shinde's redoubt, where his party was the one with the most seats. However, this might not be a moment of celebration for him. With the BJP in an exceedingly dominant situation, ruling the Centre, state, and most of the corporations, his own importance to them has decreased. A tireless campaigner connected to grassroots workers, Shinde was the weapon for the BJP to splinter the Shiv Sena, and that is a project still ongoing. Shinde's survival will depend on how much he can show himself necessary to the BJP.

 Ajit Pawar: Family Reunion Flops

Ajit Pawar had decided not to spread himself too thin and for the municipal corporation elections focused on Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad that the Nationalist Congress Party was traditionally strong in. Keen to assert independence from the Bharatiya Janata Party, he also made a surprise alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar from whom he had earlier broken off. Despite all these strategic manoeuvres, he had nothing to show for it. Pawar's future now hangs in the balance. His party's poor performance has exposed its appeal to the electorate. The BJP doesn’t really need him for a majority. And going back to Sharad Pawar has raised questions of whether a unification is in the cards. Pawar needs to do something to indicate that he remains relevant in the state's political landscape. A united NCP that he leads could be a temporary reprieve. The question is whether that will be outside or inside government.

Sharad Pawar: Diminished Clout

After a spectacular moment in the Lok Sabha polls of 2024 when he led from the front to breathe life into the opposition, the old warhorse of Maharashtra's politics is looking increasingly spent. The Assemble elections were a debacle and the municipal corporation election now is a reaffirmation of it.  He first made peace with his nephew who had split his party and then, despite that, failed to reap any benefits. He has a weakened organisation and without a consolidated opposition unity, all that the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) won was a shadow of what they once commanded. At 85, his ability to rebuild the party is limited and the alliance with Ajit Pawar once again fuels rumours that Pawar wants to come to an arrangement where his nephew and daughter take different leadership roles in a united NCP.