THE BJP has suffered a major New Year setback in the elections to four of the six zilla parishads (ZP) – Nagpur, Akola, Washim, Palghar, Dhule and Nandurbar – and in tehsil panchayat samitis (PS) in those six districts. Elections to these were held on January 7, 2020 and the counting was held a day later. In all these elections, each party fought independently on its own strength.

The BJP got its biggest shock in Nagpur in the Vidarbha region. Nagpur is the second capital of Maharashtra, which not only houses the headquarters of the RSS, but also is the home turf of two BJP-RSS heavyweights – union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Here, out of 58 seats, the Congress won a clear majority with 30 seats, the BJP was cut down to 15, the NCP won 10 and others got three seats. The BJP had swept the Nagpur ZP in the last elections. This was a body blow to the BJP which was widely publicised by all sections of the media in Maharashtra.

The other district where the BJP suffered a big setback was Palghar in the Konkan region. The BJP-Shiv Sena had been controlling the Palghar ZP for the last five years. In the 57-member ZP, the position now is as follows: Shiv Sena - 18, NCP - 14, BJP - 12, CPI(M) - six, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) - four, Congress - one, Independents - two. Due to the unity of the secular forces, the BJP was wiped out from Palghar district in the state assembly elections in October 2019, not being able to win even a single seat out of six. Here the secular alliance had won five of the six MLA seats – BVA winning three, CPI(M) and NCP winning one each – and the Shiv Sena winning one.  

The BJP was cut down to size in three other districts and stands no chance of coming to office in them. In Akola and Washim, both of them in the Vidarbha region, it got only seven seats each and in Nandurbar in north Maharashtra it got 23. But here the Congress also got 23, Shiv Sena, seven and NCP, three. The only ZP that the BJP wrested from the Congress-NCP was Dhule, also in north Maharashtra, where it won 39 out of the 56 seats. The only district where the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) scored, but still well short of a majority, was its traditional base in Akola district. It won 22 of the 53 seats. This was less than it had scored last time.

In at least four of the six ZPs, it will be the constituents of the anti-BJP Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, who are likely to jointly take office. Much the same picture will be replicated in the several panchayat samitis at the tehsil level.
While these results are certainly a welcome development, there is no room for complacency. This is borne out by the total number of ZP/PS seats won by the four major parties in the elections in these six districts. The BJP still leads the pack with 103 ZP seats and 194 PS seats. It is followed by the Congress (73 ZP/145 PS), Shiv Sena (49 ZP/117 PS) and NCP (46 ZP/80 PS).         

MAJOR REVERSE IN ASSEMBLY
This is the second setback faced by the BJP in Maharashtra in the last three months. The first major reverse was in and after the state assembly elections in October 2019. The BJP, which before the assembly elections was boasting that its alliance would win over 220 of the 288 seats in Maharashtra, saw its own seats decline from 122 in 2014 to 105 in 2019. Along with 56 seats won by the Shiv Sena, also down from 63 earlier, the alliance total came to only 161 as against 185 last time. The NCP and the Congress gained 15 seats, won 54 and 44 seats respectively, thus making a total of 98. 29 seats were won by other parties and independents.

We were all witness to the sordid one month long political drama, including the three-day tamasha starring Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, the governor and the BJP-led central government, which unfolded after the declaration of election results on October 24, 2019.
The most crucial political development has been the breaking away of the Shiv Sena from the BJP after 30 years of an unbroken alliance since 1989, with the solitary exception of the state assembly elections of 2014, when both of them, as also the Congress and the NCP, fought separately. The Shiv Sena was, in fact, the first and the oldest ally of the BJP in the country.

Finally, on November 28, a new Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi state government, headed by Uddhav Thackeray and comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was formed. The BJP was effectively sidelined. It took more than a month for the new state cabinet to take shape.
It is too early to take stock of the performance of the new regime. But a few points, both positive and negative, should be noted. The new CM admitted in the state assembly at Nagpur that the mixing of religion and politics was wrong. Recently, he also publicly compared the attacks by Sangh Parivar hoodlums on JNU students and faculty in Delhi to the Pakistani terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The Shiv Sena and its unions actively supported the January 8 nationwide strike call given by the central trade unions.

The CM also announced that the bullet train Project of the BJP central government would be subjected to a review. One of the state ministers announced that the case of the mysterious death of Judge Loya would be examined and might be re-opened. The state government unveiled a loan waiver package for farmers with loans up to two lakh rupees, but there are some major lacunae in the package which have been pointed out by the AIKS Maharashtra state council in a detailed memorandum sent to the government.

The CPI(M) MLA remained neutral in the vote of confidence on the new government. It has been decided that he will take his stands in the state assembly on the merits of each case. The CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee, while welcoming the fact that the BJP has been kept out of power, has listed out a charter of 15 issues which it expects the new government to address. (The charter has been published in these columns earlier.)

On the three current burning national issues of Jammu and Kashmir, CAA-NRC-NPR and the Sangh Parivar goon attacks on JNU, there has been a huge churning throughout Maharashtra and lakhs of people have come out on the roads denouncing the Modi regime. The secular nature of all these demonstrations and the massive participation of youth, students and women have been their two distinctive features. The climax of these protests was reached on January 8, 2020, when the nationwide strike and rural bandh elicited an unprecedented response throughout Maharashtra, once again bringing lakhs of people into struggle on the streets.            

CPI(M) Again Wins Talasari Panchayat Samiti
Improves Position in Palghar ZP/PS Elections

THE Palghar Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Panchayat Samiti (PS) elections were held on January 7. The CPI(M), which had recently won the Dahanu (ST) assembly seat in Palghar district in October 2019 with its young MLA Vinod Nikole, improved its position in these elections.

The CPI(M) won six ZP seats and 12 PS seats in 2020, as against five ZP seats and 10 PS seats in 2015. This marks an increase of three seats. In some other seats, the Party lost very narrowly.

The CPI(M) tried hard to have the same alliance with secular parties as was forged in the last Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls, but the effort did not succeed. Consequently, the Party had to fight these elections on its own independent strength. Despite this, the Party succeeded in increasing its votes and seats. Had the secular alliance been forged, more advances would have been made.

The biggest victory was in Talasari tehsil, where the CPI(M) won four of the five ZP seats and eight of the ten PS seats. With this victory, the Red Flag will fly again over the Talasari panchayat samiti.

Significantly, the CPI(M) has consistently won the Talasari panchayat samiti for 58 years at a stretch, ever since the first local body elections that were held in Maharashtra in 1962.

The CPI(M) also won one ZP seat and two PS seats in Dahanu tehsil, one ZP seat and one PS seat in Jawhar tehsil and one PS seat in Vikramgad tehsil, all in Palghar district.