After the Maharashtra government extended Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation benefits to the Maratha community by recognising Kunbi ancestry, there has been a marked shift in local body politics, with a growing number of Maratha candidates contesting elections on Kunbi caste certificates. This change has significantly altered the composition of candidates and winners in recent municipal corporation elections across the state.
The push for OBC status for Marathas through Kunbi recognition was spearheaded by activist Manoj Jarange Patil, whose agitation gathered statewide momentum last year. The movement saw massive demonstrations, particularly in Mumbai during August and September 2025, which intensified pressure on the state administration to address the long-pending demand for reservation.
In response, the Maharashtra government issued a Government Resolution in September granting OBC reservation benefits to the Maratha community in education, government employment and local body elections. This decision followed the recommendations of the Shinde Committee, constituted during the tenure of then chief minister Eknath Shinde. A fresh resolution formalising the policy was notified on September 2, 2025, a period that also witnessed sharp social and political tensions between existing OBC groups and sections of the Maratha community.
The impact of this policy became clearly visible in the elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation. Of the corporation’s 165 seats, 44 were reserved for OBCs. Kunbi candidates contested these reserved seats and secured victory in 26 of them. Among the elected corporators, 17 belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party, while nine were from the Nationalist Congress Party. However, the caste validity certificates of 12 of these 26 elected representatives are still pending verification. While some candidates had obtained Kunbi certificates years earlier, others applied for them only after ward-wise reservations were announced shortly before the polls.
A similar trend was observed in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, where 34 out of 128 seats were reserved for OBCs. Kunbi candidates contested 26 of these seats and won every single one. The winners included 17 corporators from the BJP, seven from the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP, and two from the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde. Even here, caste validity scrutiny remains incomplete, with certificates of 13 elected corporators yet to be cleared.
Asset disclosures filed by the newly elected corporators have added another layer of controversy. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, one corporator declared assets worth ₹370 crore, while 11 others reported movable and immovable properties exceeding ₹11 crore. In Pune, none of the 26 corporators elected under the OBC category declared assets below ₹1.5 crore, and a significant number reported wealth running into several crores.
Leaders of the Maratha reservation movement had consistently argued that the extension of OBC benefits was intended to uplift economically weaker sections of the community by improving access to education, employment and political representation. However, the financial profiles of many elected corporators have raised questions about whether the benefits are reaching those most in need. The dominance of affluent candidates and the pending verification of caste validity certificates have fuelled debate over the implementation, intent and long-term consequences of the policy in Maharashtra’s urban local bodies.
