Eknath Shinde admits rift with Fadnavis ahead of Maharashtra local polls

Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde admitted on Monday (December 1) that there has been a rift between him and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, adding that they have made allegations against each other. However, despite the ongoing tussle between the Shiv Sena and the BJP over the local body elections, both leaders emphasised that the elections should remain focused on party workers and local issues.

"Yes, it's true that I made allegations against the CM, and he also made allegations against me. But you need to understand that these elections are local elections, which are fought on very local issues and are fought by the local party workers,” Shinde told reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

“Big political issues do not need to be brought up in these local body elections. But party workers like to see their senior leadership come and join them in these election campaigns,” he added as quoted by ANI.

‘Haven’t commented on anyone’: Fadnavis

However, Fadnavis, despite agreeing that local body elections are driven by party workers, said that he has avoided making comments against rivals and allies, adding that he has focused only on campaigning for BJP candidates.

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"These are local body elections in which workers of our party contest these elections and we try to reach to all parts of the state where the elections are being held to campaign and support our workers during our elections,” said Fadnavis.

“The same workers do very hard work in our campaigning, so it's our responsibility also to come and campaign for them in their elections and it is done by everyone,” he added.

The Chief Minister asserted that he had not made any comments on rivals and neither on allies. "These were the elections where I had not made any comment. Even my opponents. Let alone the issue of commenting on our allies. Today is the last day of the campaign for the elections, but I have not made any comments against anyone. I only campaign in support of candidates of our party," he said.

Polls in several Pune municipalities deferred

During the day, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) announced that elections for several municipal councils in Pune district have been deferred, following district court judgments that were issued later than the deadline set by the Commission. Officials confirmed that polling for the affected councils and wards has been rescheduled for December 20.

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In a statement released by the Pune District Administration, authorities noted that the SEC had earlier instructed that elections for municipal councils and nagar panchayats could not move forward if cases concerning member disqualification or reservation challenges were still pending before district courts. The Commission had specified that all such rulings needed to be delivered by November 22, 2025, for the original polling schedule to remain in place.

What the district court said

Despite this directive, the District Court issued its decisions on appeals related to the President’s post in the Baramati Municipal Council and the Fursungi–Uruli Devachi Municipal Council only on November 26, 2025—four days after the SEC’s cutoff date. Additionally, orders involving member seats in both councils were also released after November 22.

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Due to these delays, the SEC has ordered that the full general elections for both bodies, including contests for President and member seats, be postponed. Voting for all postponed constituencies will now occur on December 20.