Political activity has intensified ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, with parties stepping up preparations and campaign strategies. Amid this, the Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has released its list of 40 star campaigners for the civic polls. The list features a mix of senior party leaders and well-known faces, adding a dash of glamour to the campaign. Bollywood actor and former MP Govinda Ahuja has been named among the party’s star campaigners.
List of star campaigners
- Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister
- Shrikant Eknath Shinde, MP and Shiv Sena parliamentary party leader
- Ramdas Kadam, leader
- Gajanan Kirtikar, leader
- Anandrao Adsul, leader
- Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister
- Nilamtai Gore, leader
- Minatai Kumble, leader
- Gulabrao Patil, leader and minister
- Grandfather Bhuse, Deputy Leader and Minister
- Uday Samant, Deputy Leader and Minister
- Shambhuraj Desai, Deputy Leader and Minister
- Sanjay Shirsat, spokesperson and minister
- Bharat Gogavale, Deputy Leader and Minister
- Prakash Abitkar, Minister
- Pratap Sarnaik, Minister
- Ashish Jaiswal, Minister of State
- Yogesh Kadam, Minister of State
- Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson and MLA
- Shring Barane, Deputy Leader and MP
- Patience means, MP
- Sandipan Bhumre, MP
- Naresh Maske, MP
- Ravindra Vaykar, MP
- Milind Deora, MP
- Dr. Deepak Sawant, Deputy Leader and Former Minister
- Shahaji Bapu Patil, deputy leader and former MLA
- Rahul Shewale, deputy leader and former MP
- Dr. Manisha Kayande, Secretary and MLA
- Milind Rane, MLA
- Sanjay Nirupam, Spokesperson
- Raju Waghmare, Spokesperson
- Dr. Jyoti Waghmare, Spokesperson
- Puresh Sarnaik, Yuva Sena Executive President
- Rahul Londhe, Yuva Sena Secretary
- Akshay Maharaj Bhosale, Shiv Sena spokesperson and president, Dharamveer Spiritual Sena
- Sameer Kazi, Executive Head, Minority Department
- Shayna NC, National Spokesperson
- Govinda Ahuja, former MP
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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