Nagpur ZP polls move closer after Supreme Court nod, Congress and BJP gear up for contest

The Supreme Court has cleared the pending elections to 20 zilla parishads and 211 panchayat samitis in Maharashtra. The schedule for polls to all zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in Vidarbha, including Nagpur, is now expected to be announced soon. The court has directed that the elections be held within the 50 per cent reservation limit.

The news has energised party workers across Nagpur district. Congress camp is especially upbeat after the party's win in the graduates' constituency election. Congress held an absolute majority in the Nagpur Zilla Parishad. After its term ended in January 2025, the matter over OBC reservation was in court, which is why the polls were stuck. The Nagpur ZP has been under administrator rule for the past 21 months. The terms of five zilla parishads in the state had ended on January 17 last year, and the way now appears to be opening for elections in all of them. It remains to be seen when the Election Commission announces the polls.

The election will be a challenge for both the Congress, which ran the zilla parishad, and the BJP, which sat in the opposition. It will also be a matter of prestige for senior leaders on both sides. Sunil Kedar, a veteran Congress leader of the district and former minister, has beaten the BJP with his strategy in several elections. In the Lok Sabha election he got his candidate elected. His faction ruled the zilla parishad unchallenged, and the BJP in the opposition was quite weak.

In the 57-member zilla parishad, Congress had 32 members and the NCP 8, giving the Maha Vikas Aghadi 40. The BJP won only 14 seats. The Shiv Sena, Shetkari Kamgar Paksha, Gondwana Ganatantra Party and independents had one member each.

After the Assembly election, the BJP, which had been weak in the district, gained weight. Sunil Kedar's wife Anuja Kedar's defeat in the Assembly election had dispirited his supporters. The defeat of Salil Deshmukh, son of Anil Deshmukh of the NCP (Sharad Pawar) in his stronghold, had created turmoil among his supporters. But the win of Abhijit Wanjari, the Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate, in the graduates' constituency election has revived enthusiasm in this camp.

After this defeat, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Minister of State Ashish Jaiswal will make every effort to capture the zilla parishad. For the Congress and NCP the challenge will be to return to power, while for the BJP it will be to take control.

The reservation lottery for the post of president will be held first. The Rural Development Department must hold the lottery for the zilla parishad president's post six months before the election. Objections are then invited, and the election is announced only after the process is complete. In 2019, the president's post in the Nagpur ZP was reserved for Scheduled Caste women. Kedar had handed the responsibility to Rashmi Barve for two and a half years, and then to Mukta Kokde.

With 50 per cent reservation for women, a circle that was in the open category last time will now be reserved for women. All eyes will also be on whether sitting women members will get a chance to contest again. For now, everyone is waiting for the announcement of the election schedule.

Kunda Raut, former zilla parishad vice-president, said the Election Commission should hold the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections with ballot papers, as in the graduates' and teachers' constituency elections. She claimed that farmers and rural people are distressed because of the wrong policies of the ruling party. According to her, there is great anger among the public against those in power, which will benefit the Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi parties. Raut also claimed that if elections are held, the Congress will return to the zilla parishad with an absolute majority.