With the seat-sharing talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena remaining inconclusive till the last day of filing nominations, the BJP on Monday announced its first list of candidates for the Mumbai civic elections.
The party has released a list of 67 candidates, all of whom have been issued AB forms by the BJP, signalling the party’s readiness to contest independently if required. The move comes amid uncertainty over a final seat-sharing formula between the two alliance partners in Mumbai.
According to party sources, the decision was taken to avoid last-minute confusion and ensure that BJP candidates are formally in the race before the nomination deadline.
The list of BJP candidates include Tejaswi Ghosalkar, Ganesh Khankar, Jitendra Patel, Rani Trivedi, Seema Shinde, Jigna Shah, Shweta Korgaonkar, Shilpa Sangore, Dakshata Kavathankar, among others.
Political observers see the BJP’s announcement as a pressure tactic amid stalled alliance negotiations, while also keeping the party’s electoral options open in the high-stakes Mumbai civic polls.