Though a lot is being discussed about the pre-poll alliance in municipal elections declared on Monday, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will witness fight between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party only. If one goes by the past 15 years experience one would realise, no alliance partners (NCP and Shiv Sena) showed noticeable performance. In 2017, BJP emerged as single largest party with Fadnavis-led Government in State. Those polls were steered by Fadnavis himself. The situation is again favoirable for BJP as Fadnavis-led Government is running the State. In Maharashtra, Mahayuti leaders demonstrated maturity as they decided to either go for friendly fights so that the Opposition would not be benefited or declared pre-poll alliance.

 

 

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made it clear that Mahayuti would not leave any stone unturned as far as the partnership strategy is concerned. In Nagpur,, neither Maha Vikas Aaghadi nor Mahayuti will have alliance within though the groups haven’t declared so. If we have a look into the results of 2017 municipal polls in Nagpur, then we will know that BJP has left all other parties far behind. Of the 151 prabhags, BJP won a whopping 108 followed by Congress with 29. Nationalist Congress Party (then united) and Shiv Sena (then united) could only win 1 and 2 seats respectively. Abha Pandey is the only Independent candidate who stood victorious. The performance of Bahujan Samaj Party can’t be ignored. It won 10 seats with good margin. Considering poor performance by NCP and Shiv Sena, it is clear that both Congress and BJP are not in a mood to do seat sharing. Of course Congress too was not a good performer in 2017 so it may go for compromise with MVA constituents in a few prabhags. But Duneshwar Pethe, City President of NCP (Sharad Pawar) has issued a letter and invited aspirants for the interview on December 20. It shows that NCP is prepared to go solo.

 

BJP which will face tough competition among the aspirants, is likely to contest on all 151 prabhags. Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) is making weak efforts for seat sharing as it asked 15 per cent share in Mahayuti. BJP is unlikely to response to the demand of NCP. The city president of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) Anil Ahirkar and Working President Shrikant Shivankar, clarified that given the party’s increased strength in Nagpur city, it is essential that the group gets the opportunity to contest at least 15 percent of the total seats in the Municipal Corporation. Till now Shiv Sena (Shinde) has not put any demand. A senior BJP functionary clearly said, “We know our and our partners’ strengths. Accordingly, it will not be a wise step to do seat sharing. As Fadnavis rightly pointed out, if we contest in alliance then it will benefit the Opposition.” One Shiv Sena leader said, “I agree with what BJP leadership argues. We consider this election as a part of enhancing our strength keeping an eye on future polls. We can develop elective material even if our candidates are defeated.” Both Congress and BJP are equal as far as preparedness is concerned. BJP declared its elections heads on Monday while Congress did it quite earlier. Congress conducted its Assembly constituency-wise party meetings a long ago. It had invited applications from the aspirants and over 750 people confirmed their claim of candidature. BJP has been interacting with the people since long. According to sources BJP has conducted surveys to identify candidates at least thrice from different agencies. It is said that BJP may introduce some new names as their candidates. 

 

Considering the huge crowd of aspiring candidates at the BJP office for the municipal elections, some important changes have been made to the scheduled interview timetable. December 17: North Assembly Constituency -(Wards 1 and 2 at 9 am) (Wards 3 and 4 at 11 am) (Wards 5 and 6 at 1 pm)(Wards 7 and 9 at 3 pm) December 18: South-West Assembly Constituency -(Wards 16 and 17 at 9 am) (Wards 35 and 36 at 11 am)(Wards 37 and 38 at 1 pm) December 19: South Assembly Constituency -(Wards 28 and 29 at 9 am) (Wards 30 and 31 at 11 am)(Wards 32 and 33 at 1 pm)(Ward 34 at 3 pm) December 20: Central Assembly Constituency -(Wards 8 and 18 at 9 am) (Wards 19 and 20 at 11 am) (Ward 22 at 1 pm) And interviews for Wards 14 and 15 of the West Assembly Constituency will be held at 4 pm.