Vote counting on February 9, for Maharashtra's Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Panchayat Samiti elections reveals a split verdict in Satara district, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in Satara, Khatav, Man, and Koregaon Panchayat Samitis, while Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) holds strong in Phaltan, Wai and Karad. These trends underscore intensifying rural rivalries nearly a decade after NCP's 2017 landslide (39/64 ZP seats), with statewide early leads showing BJP ahead at 5 ZP seats against NCP's post-tragedy push under the 'clock' symbol- a tribute to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, killed in a January 28 charter plane crash that postponed polls from February 5.
Satara Zilla Parishad verdict
In Satara Zilla Parishad elections, BJP has surged to 32 of 65 seats per latest trends, shattering NCP's storied dominance just weeks after Ajit Pawar's death.
Dramatic reversal amid vote counting
NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) trails at 17 seats, with Shiv Sena (Shinde) at 10; Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), and others score zero- marking a seismic shift from 2017's NCP landslide (39/64) amid post-crash unity tests and BJP's samiti leads in Khatav, Man, Satara, and Koregaon.
Deferral and high-stakes context
Originally set for February 5, the elections across 12 districts featured 7,438 candidates for 731 ZP seats (369 women, 83 SC, 25 ST, 191 OBC) and 1,462 Panchayat Samiti seats (731 women, 166 SC, 38 ST, 342 OBC), drawing 68.28 per cent turnout on February 7 amid three days of state mourning for Pawar. Satara and Pune emerge as key battlegrounds, testing NCP's factional unity against Mahayuti's momentum from recent sweeps (288/332 municipal councils in December 2025, BJP-led 29 corporations in January 2026).
2017 benchmark: NCP's Satara dominance
Satara's 2017 ZP polls saw NCP claim 39 of 64 seats, dwarfing BJP and Congress at 7 each, Shiv Sena at 2, and independents/others at 9- mirroring Pune's NCP stronghold (44/75 ZP seats, 78/150 samitis from 70.35% turnout among 38.47 lakh population). This rural fortress, unbroken for nine years, now faces erosion as BJP leverages alliances and voter shifts in blocks like Khatav and Koregaon.
District splits and strategic plays
Latest ZP tallies signal flux: BJP tops Pune (4), Satara (5), Solapur (7), Sindhudurg (12); NCP clings to Pune (7), Parbhani (6); Shiv Sena shines in Ratnagiri (8), Raigad (5), with Kolhapur fragmented. Satara's samiti divide- BJP in four, NCP in three- highlights targeted inroads, fueling merger buzz by February 12 (per Praful Patel) and tactical pacts amid grief-driven NCP consolidation across Pune samitis like Baramati and Indapur. Rivals eye these grassroots shifts in Satara, Sangli, and beyond as a litmus test for post-Pawar realignments.
