Fate of NCP’s western bastion hangs in balance

Mumbai: The second phase of the municipal council and zilla parishad (ZP) elections in the state will decide the fate of Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. As the party had faced a debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, these polls will be a do or die battle, as this phase is mostly centred on NCP bastions.

The NCP may enjoy national party status as per the Central Election Commission’s rules, but everyone knows that Western Maharashtra and part of Marathwada have been the backbone of the party. The Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Solapur civic body polls as well as Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur zilla parishad elections are to be held on Tuesday, and all four of the party’s members of Parliament from the state and 26 out of its 41 members of Legislative Assembly come from these areas.

In 2014 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had outmuscled the NCP in this area. In Pune, the NCP saw only 3 MLAs win out of 21 whereas BJP had 11.  In these elections, the BJP has nominated Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje, descendent of Maratha emperor Shivaji, as Rajya Sabha MP. Also, in Pune and Pimpri — Chinchwad municipalities, the BJP has brought many NCP councillors and independent MLAs supported into its fold.