Overall decline of 8.6% in Maharashtra: Panvel, Mumbai, Kolhapur see up to 39% dip in candidates this civic polls

Opposition parties have raised concerns over unopposed elections and alleged the use of force and money. (File image)

Amid record number of unopposed wins in the forthcoming Municipal Corporations poll in Maharashtra, while there has been a 8.6 per cent decline in the number of candidates in fray, over the previous elections, a closer look at the data shows that drop is most significant in large urban centres, particularly in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region where the decline is significant and stands between 25 (Mumbai) and 39 per cent (Panvel) in four of nine corporations of MMR.

Data from 29 municipal corporations shows that the number of final contesting candidates has declined 8.6 per cent from 17,432 in the last elections to 15,931 this time.

Traditionally known for intense ward-level competition and multi-cornered contests, several corporations have recorded double-digit declines in number of candidates amid allegations by opposition parties of intimidation and large-scale misuse of power to prevent candidates from contesting elections.

In Mumbai, the state’s largest civic body with 227 seats, the number of candidates has fallen from 2,275 in the previous election to 1,700, a decline of over 25 per cent. Similar declines have been seen in Navi Mumbai (26.5 per cent), Kalyan–Dombivli (34.8 per cent), Thane (18.5 per cent) and Panvel (39 per cent).

The number of municipal corporations in Maharashtra has grown from 22 in 2000 to 29 at present. Of the four elections held since the turn of the century in these corporations, the number of contestants stood at 14,930, rose to 17,451, and then 17,432, before showing a sharp dip to 15,931 in the present elections.

Of the BJP’s 44 candidates elected unopposed, 15 won in Kalyan, six each in Bhiwandi, Panvel and Jalgaon, four in Dhule, three in Ahilyanagar, and two each in Pune and Pimpri–Chinchwad. Of the 22 Shiv Sena winners, seven secured walkovers in Thane, the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde; another seven in Kalyan, six in Jalgaon, and two in Bhiwandi. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP won two unopposed contests in Jalgaon, while an Islam Party candidate was elected unopposed in Malegaon.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that candidates were being forced out of the race using pressure and inducements, claiming that rivals were being paid to withdraw. “Opponents are being offered ₹5 crore each to step aside. This is not an election, it is a market,” he said.

The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday put the declaration of results in wards where candidates were elected unopposed on hold and sought reports from local officials to confirm that there was no foul play.

The decline in candidates, however, is not uniform across the state. While 22 municipal corporations have seen a fall in the number of contestants, a handful of cities have bucked the trend. Parbhani has registered an 88.5 per cent increase in contesting candidates, from 218 earlier to 411 now. Vasai–Virar (+13.5 per cent), Jalgaon (+9.9 per cent), Pune (+7 per cent) and Amravati (+5.4 per cent) have also recorded modest increases.