Ambernath Municipal Council: Bombay High Court Orders Collector To Decide Afresh On Alliances Of BJP-Congress, Shinde Sena-NCP

In a bid to settle the political chaos in Ambernath Municipal Council (AMC), the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Collector of Thane to decide afresh, recognising an alliance, either of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde Faction) along with the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar Faction) or that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with the 12 'expelled' but elected Councillors of the Congress party and the NCP. 

Notably, the elections to the AMC took place on December 20, 2025 which resulted in a fractured mandate with Shinde's Sena bagging 27 of the 60 seats, BJP and Congress managed to win on 14 and 12 seats, respectively. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Ajit Pawar Faction) got 4 seats and independents won on 2.

With no political party reaching the half-way mark of 31, an alliance was formed between the BJP and the Congress, which was supported by the NCP's 4 Councillors and the 2 independent winners. They together formed the 'Ambernath Vikas Aghadi' which was officially recognised as a 'pre-poll alliance' by the District Collector by his order passed on January 7, 2026.

However, the Congress party expelled all its 12 elected Councillors from the party for joining hands with the BJP and the latter's leadership too suggested against the alliance. Still the councillors support the BJP and have reportedly merged with the party.

Amid all this, on January 9, the four Councillors of Ajit Pawar's NCP switched sides and joined Shinde's Sena (taking its relative strength to 31) and urged the Collector to ignore the affidavits they filed in support of the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi. Accordingly, the Collector, while recalling its earlier order, recognised this newly formed Shiv Sena Ambernath Mahayuti Aghadi as a 'pre-poll alliance.'

Challenging this decision of the Collector, the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi through senior advocate Girish Godbole petitioned a bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Abhay Mantri, arguing that the collector erred in de-recognising it as a 'pre-poll alliance' as the authority failed to follow the due process of law.

In a previous hearing, the bench had halted the process of nominations to the Subject Committees such as the Public Health Committee, Public Works Committee, Education Committee etc till today (Jan 19).

When the matter was called out for hearing today morning, the counsels for both the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi and also the Shiv Sena Ambernath Mahayuti Aghadi, informed the judges that the parties have consented to the matter being remitted back to the Collector to take a fresh decision. 

"In view of this consent, the three communications/orders dated January 7 (recognising BJP-Congress alliance), and two on January 9 (one recognising Shinde Sena alliance and the other de-recognising BJP-Congress alliance) are kept in abeyance. The parties may tender their written submissions and take legal assistance and pursue their case before the Collector, Thane on January 28. The Collector, upon hearing all the parties, to close the matter for orders and thereafter within 21 days, pass a detailed and reasoned order and pronounce the same on a day of his choice," Justice Ghuge ordered. 

Giving the parties an opportunity to challenge the order passed by the Collector, if they are aggrieved, the judges made it clear that the Collector's order will not be effective for a week.

Considering the rift ongoing between the political parties over this very issue, the bench strictly asked all of them to maintain 'decorum' during the hearing before the Collector. 

With these observations, the bench disposed of the said petition.