Opposition cries foul over '68' unopposed wins in Maharashtra civic polls

MUMBAI: A large number of candidates from the Mahayuti parties are set to be elected unopposed in the municipal corporation polls, a situation that was confirmed by BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye.

Upadhye said on X: "The BJP's momentum continues. From the Mahayuti, 68 corporators are elected unopposed. The largest number is from the BJP."He added that 44 unopposed candidates across eight municipal corporations were from the BJP, with the largest number from the KDMC. There were 22 from the Shiv Sena. He also stated that the NCP, which is contesting the polls solo, had two unopposed corporators.

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The opposition was scathing about the spate of unopposed elections, alleging that money and threats were used to get opposition candidates to withdraw.

The opposition also alleged that the ruling parties had the support of the state's election commission.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that candidates opposing the Mahayuti were offered up to Rs 5 crore to withdraw from the election. "Bags containing 5 crore rupees each were sent to the houses of candidates in Jalgaon to force them to withdraw."He referred to the SEC as the "pet cat" of the govt. "Although the deadline for withdrawal was 3 pm, instructions were issued from the offices of the chief minister and deputy chief minister to accept applications even after that and backdate them to before 3 pm," alleged Raut.

"Check the phone calls and records of everyone involved. Investigate who called whom in the last 24 hours - which guardian minister, which minister, or which office made the calls," he said.Raut said such a trend of unopposed elections was not witnessed anywhere in the world. "Even prominent leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Vasantdada Patil, Ram Manohar Lohia and Narendra Modi were not elected unopposed," Raut said.The Congress party's Satej Patil asked why only Mahayuti candidates were being elected unopposed. "There is the use of muscle power and money. In some cases, returning officers are giving wrong decisions. The election authorities should probe this," he said.

In the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections, where as many as 20 candidates from the Sena-BJP Mahayuti are set to be elected unopposed, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Kalyan-Dombivli unit, submitted a complaint to the SEC.AAP demanded that elections must be conducted even in wards where only one candidate remains in the fray. The party urged the commission to grant NOTA (None of the Above) the status of a "deemed" or "virtual" candidate in such wards. Furthermore, AAP proposed that if the sole candidate secures fewer votes than NOTA, a re-election should be held in that ward. This demand was formally communicated by AAP poll committee advisor Akash Vedak.Thane's Shiv Sena (UBT) president Kedar Dighe raised questions on whether political parties can claim their candidates "won unopposed" and sought clarity about whether these candidates still need to face the NOTA button.Dighe was apparently responding to celebrations among the Dy CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena cadres in Thane city and suburbs after rival contestants to seven seats in the city and a few others across various neighbouring corporations were either disqualified or pulled out of the race.Dighe posted, "If there is a NOTA button on the EVM, then how are the currently elected candidates declared 'unopposed'? The Election Commission should place the NOTA button against these so-called unopposed candidates. That would show how many voters oppose them, and democracy would become more transparent."Samajwadi Party president and MLA Abu Azmi said, "There was a lot of pressure on our municipal councillors to withdraw their nominations after taking money. Wherever money was distributed, nominations were withdrawn."