Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls: Ajit Pawar announces alliance with Sharad Pawar's NCP in major political shift

Pune:

In a significant political development ahead of the Municipal Corporation elections, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday  (December 28) announced an alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar faction) in Pimpri-Chinchwad for the upcoming civic poll. Declaring that both factions will contest the civic polls together, Ajit Pawar said the alliance marks the reunification of the "family".

During an election campaign rally in Pimpri Chinchwad today, he said, "While finalising the list of candidates for the Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal elections, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar faction decided to contest the polls together in Pimpri Chinchwad. Because of this, the family will come together once again. There were many questions in people's minds about what would happen; many times, certain decisions have to be taken in the interest of Maharashtra's development. I have discussed seat-sharing with leaders here, and that too will be announced soon."

Ajit Pawar said that the coming together of the two Nationalist parties was an emotional moment for supporters who had hoped for unity for years. "In the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the turha of the Sharad Pawar faction and our clock have come together. Now this family is uniting once again," he said, adding that both factions share a common identity rooted in farming and grassroots politics.

Ajit Pawar on defection politics

Speaking on allegations related to defections, Ajit Pawar asserted that he has never indulged in such politics. "Those who wish to come of their own free will can come with me. I have never engaged in the politics of defection," he said. 

Drawing a contrast with the current political climate, he remarked that earlier elections were fought independently by parties like the NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena, and BJP, but today, attempts are being made to break parties and forcibly merge leaders into other outfits. "Elections were held even earlier, when the NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena, and the BJP would all contest polls independently. But what is happening today is different—parties are being broken and leaders are being lured away. When I ask some people what happened, they tell me, 'Dada, we were threatened. We have several projects underway and they were warned those would be shut down.' Such shady practices are going on. I want to tell the people of Pimpri-Chinchwad that they should not tolerate any of this," he said.

On seat sharing, the NCP chief said leaders from both factions have held discussions and arrived at an understanding. "We had to step back on some seats, but seat sharing has been finalised. The details will be announced in the next two days," he said, expressing confidence that the alliance would work for the all-round development of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Municipal Corporation elections

The NCP is a part of the Mahayuti, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, while the NCP-SP is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which comprises the Congress and the Sena-UBT.

Meanwhile, the voting for the high-stakes elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the BMC, will take place on January 15. The counting of votes will take place on January 16.

This comes after the two-phase municipal councils and nagar panchayats elections, whose results were declared on Sunday. The elections were swept by the ruling Mahayuti, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

According to the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC), the BJP won 117 posts of municipal presidents, Shiv Sena won 53, and the NCP won 37 posts. The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena-UBT and Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP won 28, nine and seven posts, respectively.

The Congress, Sena-UBT and NCP-SP are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), but the allies have failed to form an alliance for the BMC elections. Sena-UBT is looking to seal an alliance with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), but Congress is against the move. Thus, Congress is looking for an alternative alliance for the BMC polls.    

Also Read: Ajit Pawar led-NCP releases first list of candidates for BMC elections 2026 

Also Read: Maharashtra civic body polls 2026: Ajit-Sharad Pawar reunion unlikely as talks fail