Maharashtra: Mahayuti sweeps ZP, panchayat samiti polls

The ruling Mahayuti swept the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in Maharashtra, with the BJP leading the seat tally, results of which were declared on Monday, continuing the winning streak that began with an impressive performance in the 2024 assembly polls. The Mahayuti won 552 of 731 ZP seats and more than 1,000 of the 1,462 panchayat samiti seats, the State Election Commission said. In the Mahayuti, the BJP led with 225 ZP seats, followed by 165 for the Nationalist Congress Party and 162 for the Shiv Sena.
In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Congress emerged on top with 55 ZP seats, followed by the Shiv Sena (UBT) with 43 seats and NCP (SP) with 26. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) won a seat each in Latur and Ratnagiri. Independents secured 20 seats. In the elections to 125 panchayat samitis too, the BJP emerged the biggest winner, with 459 seats of the total 1,462 seats, followed by the NCP with 306 and the Sena with 302 seats, respectively.
The BJP won a clear majority in the Solapur and Sindhudurg zilla parishads, and emerged as the single-largest party in four – Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Satara, Parbhani and Dharashiv. The Sena was the single-largest party in Raigad and Ratnagiri in the Konkan, while the NCP won an absolute majority in the Pune ZP election, bagging 51 of the 73 seats. The three ruling parties fought the Kolhapur and Latur ZP elections in an alliance and may secure power jointly there as well.
The opposition was able to claim the president’s post in Sangli, as the NCP (SP) won the highest number of seats, 18 seats. It is therefore in a position to reach the halfway mark in the 61-member body with the help of the Congress (11), Sena-UBT (1) and a couple of independents.However, if the two independents from Rayat Kranti and Jansurajya Shakti (one seat each) support the Mahayuti, the alliance could wrest power in Sangli. The BJP, Sena and NCP won 16, 7 and 6 seats, respectively.