The Mahayuti alliance has finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. Under the agreed formula, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 137 seats, while Shiv Sena will field candidates in 90 seats across Mumbai’s civic wards.
The announcement came after intense discussions held just a day before the deadline for filing nomination papers, which closes on December 30. Mumbai BJP chief Amit Satam said both parties have agreed to share a portion of their allotted seats with smaller alliance partners. Candidates from the BJP and Shiv Sena are expected to submit their nomination papers on Tuesday.
Parties that have fielded candidates
For the BMC elections, the BJP has already released its first list of candidates, which includes a total of 66 names. The party has also nominated Neil Somaiya, son of senior leader Kirit Somaiya.
The Congress has also announced its first list of candidates for the BMC polls, featuring 87 names. In this election, the Congress has formed an alliance with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and both parties have reached a final agreement on seat sharing. Out of the 227 BMC seats, the Congress will contest 165 seats, while the VBA will contest 62 seats.
Ajit Pawar’s NCP has released both its first and second lists of candidates. The first list includes 37 candidates, while the second list features 27 candidates.
Past elections
In the 2017 BMC elections, held for 227 seats, the BJP significantly expanded its footprint in Mumbai, winning 82 seats just two fewer than the then undivided Shiv Sena.
The Congress finished third with 31 seats, while the undivided NCP and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena secured 9 and 7 seats respectively. AIMIM made its debut by winning three seats, the Samajwadi Party won six, Akhil Bhartiya Sena one, and Independent candidates secured four seats.
