Ajit Pawar faces litmus test as Pimpri-Chinchwad, five civic bodies from Western Maha go to polls
Political circles are closely watching whether the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and NCP (SP) will contest together or independently. Analysts say a united NCP could significantly improve Ajit Pawar’s prospects in Pimpri-Chinchwad, a city that has long been central to his political influence.
Pune: Nine years after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar’s decades-long dominance over the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) was broken for the first time by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2017, the stakes are once again high for Ajit Pawar as the civic body goes to polls next month after a prolonged gap.
In 2017, the BJP wrested power from the NCP to raise its tally from just three seats in 2012 to 77, emerging as the single largest party. Barely days left for 2026 and the BJP has further consolidated its position in the industrial township, with two of the three assembly constituencies—Chinchwad and Bhosari—currently represented by BJP MLAs even as Pimpri remains with the NCP.
To counter the BJP’s rise, there has been growing demand within the NCP to contest the civic polls in alliance with the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar/SP). However, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced that the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP will contest the Pimpri-Chinchwad elections separately.
The upcoming PCMC elections will be held under a multi-member ward system. The twin city has been divided into 32 wards, with four corporators to be elected from each ward, taking the total strength of the house to 128. Each voter will be allowed to cast four votes, and polling will be conducted using electronic voting machines (EVMs). Polling is scheduled for January 15, 2026, with counting to be held the next day on January 16, municipal commissioner and election officer Shravan Hardikar said.
As per the election programme, nomination papers can be filed offline between December 23 and December 30, 2025. Scrutiny will take place on December 31, while the last date for withdrawal is January 2, 2026. The final list of candidates and allotment of symbols will be published on January 3. The maximum campaign expenditure limit for each candidate has been fixed at ₹13 lakh.
Officials said that the PCMC has an electorate of around 17.13 lakh voters, including 9.05 lakh male voters, 8.07 lakh female voters, and 197 voters in the ‘other’ category. A total of 2,044 polling stations has been set up across the twin city, and eight returning officers have been appointed to ensure the smooth conduct of elections.
With the schedule now in place, attention has turned to Ajit Pawar’s strategy to regain the NCP’s lost ground in the twin city. Under his stewardship, Pimpri-Chinchwad has witnessed several major development initiatives over the years, with supporters often crediting him as the architect of the city’s growth. In recent months, Ajit Pawar has been seen taking a keen interest in civic issues, including intervening personally in citizen grievances related to the municipal corporation.
The PCMC, with a budget of ₹9,675.27 crore, is among the richest civic bodies in Maharashtra. Since its inception, the undivided NCP has largely dominated the corporation. Political equations changed dramatically in the 2017 polls wherein the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 77 seats, riding on a series of high-profile defections from the NCP. The undivided NCP was reduced to 36 seats, Shiv Sena won nine, MNS one, and five independents were elected. Key defections, including that of late Laxman Jagtap in 2014 and Mahesh Landge in 2016, played a crucial role in reshaping Pimpri-Chinchwad’s political dynamics. In the civic elections held on February 16, 2022, the NCP swept the polls winning 83 of the 128 seats. Congress and the undivided Shiv Sena secured 14 seats each, BJP won three, MNS four, while nine independents and one candidate from another party were elected.
Coming back to 2026, several other municipal corporations in western Maharashtra will also go to polls along with Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune. These include Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad and Ichalkaranji. In most of these cities, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is expected to contest the elections together.
In Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, long-time rivals Vishal Patil, Jayant Patil and Vishwajit Kadam have come together and decided to contest under the MVA banner. “The MVA will go to polls unitedly in the Sangli-Miraj municipal corporation. We will finalise the seat-sharing arrangement very soon,” said Jayant Patil. In Solapur, efforts are also under way to bring the two NCP factions together.
With the civic polls finally announced, political circles are closely watching whether the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and NCP (SP) will contest together or independently. Analysts say a united NCP could significantly improve Ajit Pawar’s prospects in Pimpri-Chinchwad, a city that has long been central to his political influence.
Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections are set for January 15, 2026, with significant stakes for NCP leader Ajit Pawar after BJP's 2017 victory. Despite demands for an NCP alliance, BJP will contest separately. The elections will feature 128 seats and 17.13 lakh voters, marking a crucial political moment following the 2017 power shift.