The headline number initially appears respectable — 399 civic seats statewide. But numbers in isolation are deceptive. More than 55 per cent of these victories, 221 seats to be precise, are concentrated in the Thane district alone. When combined with the 29 seats in the BMC, these two areas account for 250 of the party’s 399 total seats representing approximately 62.6 per cent of their entire statewide strength. This is not merely a stronghold; it is a dependency. Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, and Ulhasnagar together form a tightly bound political ecosystem where Shinde’s personal authority, administrative familiarity, and inherited organisational loyalty continue to deliver results. Beyond this geography, the party’s footprint rapidly thins out, often vanishing altogether.

This geographic skew matters because a regional concentration is very different from statewide relevance. Outside the Thane belt, Shinde’s Sena increasingly resembles a marginal player. Single-digit performances are no longer anomalies; they are the pattern. Solapur returned four seats, Nanded-Waghala four, Amravati three. Pune and Parbhani drew blanks. These are not fringe towns tucked away from the political mainstream. They are cities that drive Maharashtra’s economy, shape its urban discourse, and historically produce its next generation of leaders. A party that........

© News18