Sixty-eight candidates of Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti coalition were elected unopposed in the municipal elections on Friday, nearly two weeks before polling takes place, India Today reported.
The wins became clear after the deadline to withdraw nominations ended on Friday. Several candidates of the Opposition alliance had withdrawn their nominations.
Of the 68 candidates who won unopposed, 44 belong to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The largest share of them were in Thane district’s Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Some of the party’s candidates also won in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Panvel, Bhiwandi, Dhule, Jalgaon and Ahilyanagar.
The BJP’s ally, the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, won 22 seats unopposed. The remaining two were won by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group, India Today reported.
The wins themselves were not enough for the ruling alliance to clinch control of any municipal corporation.
The polling in 29 municipal corporations in the state will take place on January 15. The votes will be counted on January 16.
The Opposition said that democracy was being undermined through “threats” of central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate or by allegedly bribing the Opposition candidates.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that the BJP-led alliance was “trying to buy out their victories”, ANI reported.
“The unopposed way of ending democracy where they settle with…
Source: Maharashtra: BJP-led alliance wins 68 seats unopposed in municipal elections two weeks before voting
