News Brief
BJP-Led Mahayuti To Fight Together In Four Mumbai Metropolitan Region Civic Polls, Go Solo In Others: Report
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarter in Mumbai.
Maharashtra’s Mahayuti partners — BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — are set to jointly contest four of the nine municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Hindustan Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
However, they are reportedly likely to go solo in the remaining five bodies, signaling selective cooperation ahead of civic polls.
According to senior leaders cited by HT, the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena are expected to contest jointly in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Panvel, Vasai-Virar, and Kalyan-Dombivali corporations.
However, both party leaders do not want to contest elections in Thane, Navi Mumbai, and Mira-Bhayander in an alliance.
Earlier, BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP had jointly declared their intent to contest the upcoming elections across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra under a common alliance banner.
The civic polls are slated for January next year.
According to a senior BJP functionary cited by HT, the party has informed its allies about contesting independently in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur, and Mira-Bhayander.
“In local bodies where the two ruling partners are on number one and two positions, we would like to go solo as it will work in our favour. Fighting separately will help us win more seats and then have a post-poll alliance after the elections. It will also help us to ensure that there is no space left for the opposition,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was quoted as saying by HT.
With Uddhav and Raj Thackeray joining hands for the Mumbai civic polls, the Mahayuti partners saw strategic merit in contesting as a united front.
Under the arrangement, BJP may contest 155–160 seats, while 60–70 would go to the Shinde-led Sena and around 10 to the NCP and RPI.
Another BJP leader said that contesting jointly in Thane poses challenges, as both parties enjoy comparable strength and retaining the civic body is a prestige issue for Shinde.
The leader added that ticket distribution could trigger crossovers if aspirants are denied seats and therefore, independent contesting makes sense.
