Seat-sharing talks within the ruling Mahayuti alliance have intensified ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, with the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde pressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to concede 112 seats in the 227-member civic body, sources said on Tuesday.
According to sources, the Shinde faction reiterated its demand during a meeting held on Monday between the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Shinde. The party made it clear that it wants to field candidates on the maximum possible number of seats, particularly in Marathi-majority areas of Mumbai, where it considers its organisational strength to be strong.
Shiv Sena-BJP talks to continue
The demand has become a key point of discussion within the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which includes the BJP and the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction). While the BJP is also keen to contest a significant number of seats in the high-stakes civic polls, sources said negotiations are still underway to arrive at a mutually acceptable formula. There is still no clarity on whether the Ajit Pawar-led NCP will be part of this arrangement.
Senior leaders from both parties are expected to hold further discussions on Tuesday to resolve differences and finalise the seat-sharing arrangement. With the BMC elections seen as a prestige battle and politically crucial ahead of the next Assembly polls, both allies are treading cautiously to ensure alliance unity while safeguarding their respective electoral interests.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is the country's richest civic body, and control over it is considered vital for political dominance in Maharashtra's capital.
BMC elections
The voting for the high-stakes elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the BMC, will take place on January 15. The counting of votes will take place on January 16.
This comes after the two-phase municipal councils and nagar panchayats elections, whose results were declared on Sunday. The elections were swept by the ruling Mahayuti, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
According to the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC), the BJP won 117 posts of municipal presidents, Shiv Sena won 53, and the NCP won 37 posts. The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena-UBT, and Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP won 28, nine, and seven posts, respectively.
The Congress, Sena-UBT, and NCP-SP are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), but the allies have failed to form an alliance for the BMC elections. Sena-UBT is looking to seal an alliance with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), but Congress is against the move. Thus, Congress is looking for an alternative alliance for the BMC polls.
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