BMC Elections : Shiv Sena (UBT), BJP locked in neck-and-neck fight in battle for BMC
Early indications from the counting of votes in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections reveal a fiercely competitive battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), with both sides showing strong performances in Mumbai’s wards.
As vote counting commenced on Friday, television channels reported that the BJP held leads in 16 wards, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) trailed closely with advantages in 11 wards as of 10:20 am. Several other seats remained too close to call, with trends still evolving as the process continued across the city.
The tallying of votes is taking place for elections to 29 municipal corporations throughout Maharashtra, representing a significant event in the state’s urban governance landscape. In the BMC—the nation’s wealthiest civic body—the outcome carries particular weight amid the ongoing rivalry between the two Shiv Sena factions.
Sixty-eight wards, primarily in Mumbai’s Marathi-speaking strongholds, are anticipated to prove pivotal in determining which group—Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) or the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena—secures greater legitimacy as the inheritor of the Shiv Sena’s traditional base. In the most recent BMC elections, the undivided Shiv Sena secured 84 seats, narrowly ahead of the BJP’s 82.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, speaking before the counting began, voiced optimism regarding the ruling Mahayuti alliance’s performance across major urban local bodies. He asserted that the alliance was poised to secure comfortable majorities in key corporations, including those in Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Nashik. Fadnavis also minimized the significance of any local-level cooperation between factions of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, describing it as limited to just two bodies and not indicative of a formal merger.
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Counting operations in Mumbai started at 10 am at 23 designated centres, with Municipal Commissioner and District Election Officer Bhushan Gagrani noting that the process is being carried out in phases rather than simultaneously across all wards to ensure orderly management.
The contest has been marked by notable developments, including the reconciliation between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) after years of estrangement, forming part of the opposition lineup in the BMC fray.