Overview
- Leaders of Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) said they will contest the local-body elections together and announced a state-level coordination committee.
- Alliance choices and candidate decisions for the first phase have been delegated to district units, with voting on December 2 for 246 municipal councils and 42 panchayats and counting on December 3.
- MNS participation remains unsettled as Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal said no formal proposal has been received from Raj Thackeray’s party.
- Both NCP factions teamed up in Chandgad in Kolhapur in a move NCP (SP) says could be replicated elsewhere, though NCP (SP) in Pune ruled out any tie-up with the Ajit Pawar faction.
- Fault lines persist in the ruling Mahayuti with the Bhujbal–Kande feud roiling Nashik politics, while Shiv Sena (UBT) expelled its Jalna district chief for alleged anti-party activities.