Record turnout result of MLAs’ aggressive push to gauge mood

Ponda/Sattari: On the afternoon of the zilla panchayat polls, at Sawarshe in Bhironda panchayat, Sattari, a close aide of the MLA makes a stop at a key karyakarta’s house. The panch member sticks her neck inside the aide’s car and provides the report. “The turn out is excellent. People have been queued up since morning but officials are slow, there is a hold up”.

Across the ZP polling booths, there was no fanfare of the assembly or panchayat polls, but the numbers were unprecedented for ZP elections. With assembly elections upcoming in 2027, sitting MLAs treated the ZP polls as a preliminary round, while established players made it a prestige issue against opponents. ZP candidates with assembly ticket aspirations used the opportunity to prove their mettle to parties.


Altogether, the factors kept the queues at polling booths moving.

“There were people lined up at 7.30am itself at the polling booth, half an hour before the polling could begin. Despite there being arrangements for senior citizens to vote instantly, one lady told me that she prefers to stand in the regular queue to ‘feel like I voted’,” said BLO at Govt Primary School, Gauthan, Part 05, Prakash Gaude.

Former Ganjem sarpanch Ramnath Dangui said he has seen such a turnout for the first time at ZP polls. “MLAs have taken personal interest at this ZP polls as they can gauge their weak areas and work on them ahead of the 2027 assembly polls. There was a time, it was difficult to even find candidates for ZP polls for parties. BJP is very structured and takes even ZP polls seriously. The party also does assessment of performance and it makes the MLAs and candidates take the polls seriously,” said Dangui.

Some karyakartas of parties said that there was pressure from legislators to prove their standing against ZP candidates who broke away to contest as independents.

There is micromanagement now by parties and legislators, said voter Pradip Nageshkar from Curti, while Rupali Gaonkar from Nagargao-Sattari said that social media also plays a role in generating interest and awareness about the polls.

In Nagargao, BJP, Congress, AAP, RG and independent are set for five-cornered contest. “There are more players too now with new parties coming in. In constituencies like Usgao, campaigning was animated with late night meetings and activity on par with assembly polls,” said a party worker from Valpoi.

Get an chance to win ₹5000 Amazon Voucher by taking part in India's Biggest Habit Index! Take the survey here