Amid growing speculation about a possible political understanding between Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), the Congress has begun working on a counter-strategy by exploring an alliance with Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for the January 15 civic body polls, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Maharashtra.
Following the announcement of elections to 29 municipal corporations, Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal on Monday met VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar, triggering buzz around a potential tie-up ahead of the civic polls.
As per the reports, the Congress may contest the municipal elections in alliance with the VBA in some parts of the state, depending on local political equations. Talks are currently focused on local-level alliances rather than a comprehensive statewide arrangement.
No alliance with AIMIM
At the same time, the Congress has drawn a clear line, asserting that there will be no alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began the first round of discussions with its alliance partners in the Mahayuti. The BJP held talks with its key allies, Shiv Sena and Republican Party of India (RPI) led by Ramdas Athawale to discuss seat-sharing and election strategy.
This will be the first BMC election after the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena and will mark a direct contest with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is part of the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra. The outcome of the elections will decide the political and financial control of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.
Civic body polls on January 15
The elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)., where elections are due since early 2022, will be held on January 15 and votes will be counted on January 16, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Monday.
As many as 2,869 seats in these municipal corporations, including 227 in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) -- Asia's largest civic body with more than Rs 74,000 crore budget in 2025-26 -- will be up for grabs, said the SEC.
Announcing the schedule for municipal corporation polls at a press conference here, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said more than 3.48 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in these civic bodies covering major urban centres of the state.
The voting will take place from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm. Those standing in queues at 5.30 pm will be handed a slip, and they will be allowed to vote beyond the deadline, he said.
Besides the BMC, the civic bodies going to polls include corporations of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Kolhapur, Ulhasnagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Latur, Parbhani, Chandrapur, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli-Miraj- Kupwad, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar, Ichalkaranji, and Jalna.
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