Prakash Ambedkar, head of the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA), has made a big prediction about the Maharashtra civic body elections, the results of which will come on Friday. Ambedkar’s VBA has tied up with Congress in Mumbai, Nanded, Lathur and Jalgaon, among others, for the elections.
According to Ambedkar, the Maharashtra civic elections will prove decisive by ending the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) dominance of the last 10 years. Speaking to the media after casting his vote in Akola with his wife Anjali Ambedkar, he also said that no party will be able to gain absolute power in any municipal body, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
“I am closely monitoring this civic election. This election will prove decisive and will end the BJP's dominance of the last 10 years. The BJP wants a one-party system, but this election will prove people’s will for a multi-party system,” Ambedkar added.
Ambedkar claimed that no single party will be able to gain absolute power in any municipal body, including the BMC. "Incidents of money distribution are being reported during elections, but the fact that voters themselves are driving such people away is a positive sign for democracy," he said.
Counting of votes will take place on January 16. This will be the first BMC election since the Shiv Sena split in 2022.
The undivided Shiv Sena has ruled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest municipal body, for 25 years. In a significant political development ahead of the elections, cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, who had estranged two decades ago, have reunited to rally Marathi voters, while rival factions of the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) have formed alliances in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
