Maharashtra’s local body polls this season tell a story of shifting alliances, rivalries turning cooperative, and old partners now fighting separate battles. The biggest political re-alignment came after the split in Shiv Sena, which officially reshaped the state’s power matrix.
The faction led by Eknath Shinde emerged as Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, choosing to align with Indian National Congress and the regional bloc, leaving the original Bharatiya Janata Party contesting aggressively on its own turf in several local bodies.
Just a few years ago, state elections largely featured a high-voltage face-off between the two Sena factions and the BJP. Now, contests in many towns and municipal councils see the Shinde-led Sena pairing with Congress candidates directly against BJP nominees — a dynamic that has surprised ground-level cadres and polarised local campaigning themes.
In some belts, traditional ideological battles have softened into strategic seat-sharing. In others, old party slogans have been replaced by hyper-local issues: water delivery hours, market-fee slabs, road repair timelines, urban waste routing and small-business support nodes. This pivot has reduced national rhetoric but increased grassroots negotiation and candidate-level branding.
Political analysts see 3 key trends driving the switch:
1. Fragmented voter loyalty after party splits
2. Local winnability over old friendships
3. Candidate reputation outweighing party tags in smaller councils
For voters, the result is a more personalised ballot choice than ever. For parties, it’s a test of how well they have rebuilt trust after switching friends into opponents and opponents into temporary allies.
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