Pune: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday declared that 65 candidates were elected unopposed in the civic polls as it did not find discrepancies in the reports submitted by the commissioners of 10 municipal corporations. Of the 65 unopposed seats, BJP won 43, followed by Shiv Sena with 18, NCP with two, and two Independent candidates. The verification reports, which were in line with a 2014 order of then state election commissioner Nand Lal, were sought following complaints that there were inducements and coercion to force withdrawals, officials said.
Confirming the development, state election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare told TOI: “We released the list on the day of counting.” A senior Congress member said they opposed the practice of declaring candidates elected unopposed in wards and cases related to the issue are sub judice. “Pleas were filed stating that the right to vote includes the right to reject a candidate through the NOTA (none of the above) option on EVMs,” the politician said.However, election officials said reports were sought on whether pressure was exerted on candidates, inducements were offered, police complaints were filed, and withdrawals were voluntary. Only after the commissioners gave a clean chit were the results declared, they said.BJP’s uncontested wins were recorded across municipal corporations, including Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Panvel, Jalgaon, Pune, Malegaon, Thane and Ahilyanagar. Shiv Sena’s 18 unopposed wins were largely concentrated in Kalyan-Dombivli, Jalgaon and Thane civic bodies, while NCP’s two seats and the two Independent victories came from smaller corporations. As per data, one of the Independent candidates was from the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra in Malegaon, while the other one was from Panvel. Opposition leaders argued that such victories undermine the democratic process by denying voters a choice, especially in densely populated urban wards. BJP, however, claimed these reflected the grassroots acceptance and organisational preparedness. Political experts said unopposed candidates usually do come up in elections, but such large numbers seemed to be the first time.Elections to the 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra were held on Jan 15.
