NCP (SP) national working president Supriya Sule
Credit: PTI Photo
Pune: NCP (SP) national working president Supriya Sule has written to the Maharashtra State Election Commissioner, alleging that several aspirants in the upcoming local body polls are being pressured to withdraw from the fray by "vested interests" to ensure unopposed victories.
She also flagged a "worrying trend" wherein candidates are getting elected unopposed in the run-up to elections after their challengers are being forced out of the contest through "threat, pressure, and coercion".
Sule raised these allegations days after Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan claimed that 100 councillors of the ruling party were elected unopposed in municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the state in the run-up to local body polls.
Opposition parties had alleged that the BJP’s tradition of dynastic politics has now reached grassroots-level polls and that pressure was put on the police machinery to ensure unopposed wins for relatives of leaders.
Elections to the 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats in the state will be held on December 2, while the civic corporation polls are expected to take place in January 2026 In a letter to the SEC commissioner, Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, requested that authorities ensure the election process remains fair and transparent.
"Maharashtra has a strong, inclusive and dialogue-based democratic tradition. The architect of modern Maharashtra, Yashwantrao Chavan, ensured that the democratic process reached every village through local body elections, enabling new leadership to emerge," Sule stated in the letter addressed to SEC Dinesh Waghmare.
Sule alleged that the "greed for power has led to local body polls being increasingly held unopposed".
"Threats and intimidation of candidates are extremely serious and completely unacceptable in a democracy," the Baramati MP stated.
She demanded that elections be conducted in a free and fearless atmosphere to uphold democratic values.
"Unfortunately, this does not seem to be happening now. Hence, I have expressed my concern to the State Election Commissioner," she added.