Hitendra Thakur-led BVA dominates Vasai-Virar civic polls: BJP 43, Sena 1; Independents fail to win

VASAI: The Hitendra Thakurled Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi (BVA) pulled off a stunning performance against the BJPSena in the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVMC) elections by bagging 70 of the 115 seats.The Thakurs—father-son duo of Hitendra and Kshitij—turned the tables on the BJPled Mahayuti alliance, a little over a year after the latter swept the 2024 assembly elections. Last year, the BJP won the Vasai and Nalasopara seats, and its ally, the Shinde-led Sena, won the Boisar assembly seat, a part of which comes under the jurisdiction of the VVCMC. Political analysts had expected the Mahayuti to convert their mandate in the assembly elections into a win in the civic polls too, but that did not happen. However, the BJP did see an increase in seat share.Out of 115 seats, BJP contested 88 and won in 43, compared to 1 seat in the last civic polls in 2015. The Sena fought 27 seats and managed to win just one. Hitendra Thakur said the win belongs to party workers. “Had there been no confusion at the booths, we would have got more votes,’’ he said.The Thakurs’ BVA has dominated politics in the region since the early 1990s, both at the assembly level and, since 2010, in the newly-formed municipal corporation. In 2010, BVA won 55 of 89 seats and in 2015, it won 105 of 115 seats.BJP MP from Palghar, Dr Hemant Savara, who had campaigned in Vasai for the municipal elections, acknowledged the numbers fell short of their expectations. “But that we went from 1 seat in 2015 to 43 seats today is an important benchmark,” he said, adding, “Even if the [mayorship] will not be ours, we will be a strong opposition and fulfil all the assurances.”Nalasopara BJP MLA Rajan Naik said, “It was due to our work on the ground that helped us reach 43 seats.” Naik also claimed that BVA ran an effective negative campaign.None of the Independent candidates won a seat. Former Vasai-Virar Mayor, Rupesh Jadhav, lost his seat by 74 votes.