Malegaon (Maharashtra)

Last year, during the assembly elections, former MLA Asif Shaikh had exited Sharad Pawar's NCP and founded a new political party named 'Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra' (ISLAM).

At that time, the party had to face criticism from various quarters. 'Awaz-The Voice Marathi' had covered this extensively by interacting with former MLA Asif Shaikh.

However, in the municipal elections, this party has proved its existence. In its very first battle, the ISLAM party ended the years-long rule of the Congress. The party has achieved historic success by winning a whopping 35 seats in this election, though it narrowly missed the majority mark of 43 seats.

After establishing dominance over the Malegaon Municipal Corporation,  Asif Shaikh told the media, "Once our Mayor is elected in the corporation, we will definitely carry out large-scale development in Malegaon."

Supporters of Islam party celebrating party's victory in Malegaon Municipal Corporation

The Malegaon Municipal Corporation election was fought in two segments: East and West. In the Eastern part, it was a battle for survival between current and former MLAs, Maulana Mufti and Asif Shaikh. To pull the Ansari votes towards him, Shaikh allied with Shan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed's Samajwadi Party, along with his ISLAM party. This experiment of the 'Secular Front' proved to be highly successful.

The ISLAM party won 35 seats while the Samajwadi Party won 6. In the 84-member house, they need only two members for a majority. Voters rejected the campaign of personal criticism by the 'All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen' (AIMIM) and voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ISLAM party, which presented a vision for Malegaon's development.

On the other hand, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM party won 21 seats, earning the honour of being the second-largest party. In the last election, they had only 7 seats, so it is clear that their strength has increased. Shiv Sena also performed well, winning 18 seats, which is a gain of 6 seats.

Voters rejected the BJP, which fought alone. The party could win only two seats. Congress had to be content with only three seats. Nearly a dozen parties did not even open their accounts. In the western part of Camp Sangameshwar, the BJP had challenged Minister Dada Bhuse's Shiv Sena at the last moment by deciding to go solo.

People celebrating ISLAM party's victory in Malegaon

State President Ravindra Chavan's rally, Minister Girish Mahajan's roar about a BJP Mayor, leaders' confidence of winning 15 to 17 seats, and criticism of Bhuse and his supporters—all these experiments failed. On the contrary, by focusing only on development in campaign rallies, Bhuse demonstrated that his charisma remains intact by winning 18 out of 20 seats in five wards of the Western part.

However, the BJP and Congress have suffered a severe blow in this election. BJP's tally has reduced to just 2 seats.

Meanwhile, Congress, which once had undisputed dominance in Malegaon, had to settle for just 3 seats this time. Of these three seats, two were won by Congress City President Ejaz Beg and his wife.

Finally, voting for municipal corporations across Maharashtra took place on January 15, 2026, and the results were declared on January 16.

The local body election was conducted for 29 municipal corporations in 36 districts of the state.

A fierce battle was witnessed for the 84 wards of the Muslim-doiminant Malegaon Municipal Corporation.

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Since this was the first major election after the split in the two major parties—Shiv Sena and NCP—the contest was particularly significant in terms of changed political equations and party strength.