Nagpur: With fears of large-scale rebellion and cross-voting looming large, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have opted for a cloak-and-dagger approach to candidate selection for the forthcoming Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections. In a rare but calculated move, neither party will formally announce its list of candidates in advance.
Instead, party sources said that official B-forms will be discreetly handed over to selected candidates on the morning of Tuesday, December 30, who will then be instructed to immediately file their nomination papers. In each prabhag, multiple aspirants have been asked to keep their nomination documents ready, but only those receiving the B-form, which certifies official party backing, will be allowed to enter the fray.
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As a result of this strategy, the identities of the BJP and Congress candidates are expected to become public only by Tuesday evening, after all 151 nominations are filed, keeping rivals, rebels and even party workers guessing until the last moment.
Ticket rush and rebellion fears
The decision comes amid intense internal competition within both parties. Congress leaders acknowledge strong enthusiasm among party workers, many of whom see the upcoming civic polls as a rare opportunity to reclaim the NMC after nearly two decades. The BJP held power in the civic body from 2007 to 2022 and continued to exercise indirect control during the administrator-led phase, a factor Congress believes has fuelled anti-incumbency sentiment.
However, party insiders admit that denying tickets to eager aspirants could prompt rebel candidates to enter the contest under the banners of alliance partners. Congress fears disgruntled workers may contest on symbols of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP or the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena if overlooked.
The BJP faces a similar dilemma. Leaders privately concede that aspirants denied party tickets may switch loyalties to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena or the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP. To prevent last-minute defections, the party has chosen to keep aspirants in the dark until nomination day. Despite this, sources revealed that some BJP hopefuls have already quietly procured B-forms from other parties as a contingency plan.
BJP advantage, Congress challenges
The BJP’s confidence stems from its recent electoral performance. In the latest local body polls across Nagpur district, the party won 22 of the 27 municipal councils and nagar panchayats. The city also sends a BJP MP to Parliament, while four of Nagpur’s six MLAs belong to the ruling party. With the BJP in power at both the Centre and the State, senior leaders including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and State Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule are expected to lead an aggressive campaign for the civic elections.
The Congress, meanwhile, continues to grapple with organisational weaknesses. Factionalism within the city unit remains unresolved, particularly between North Nagpur MLA Dr Nitin Raut and West Nagpur MLA and city president Vikas Thakre. Adding to the challenge is the party’s limited financial capacity for civic polls, with candidates likely to shoulder their campaign expenses on their own.
As nomination day approaches, both parties appear to be walking a tightrope — balancing ambition, discipline and damage control — in what is shaping up to be a fiercely contested battle for Nagpur’s civic governance.
