Seat sharing tussle between BJP, Shinde Sena complicates Mumbai Municipal Election plans

The BJP-led Mahayuti plans to contest 150 seats out of the total 227 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but a seat-sharing tussle has begun between the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, sources said here on Tuesday.

The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is said to have demanded around 125 seats from the BJP. Shinde’s Shiv Sena has 125 corporators, taking into account both serving corporators and former corporators. “The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leaders claim that the Shinde factor can be more effective against the Thackeray cousins who have decided to contest together,” a BJP leader said.

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The Shinde Sena’s demand of 125 seats is not acceptable to the BJP, which is also not in favour of giving seats held by former Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. “The matter came up at a meeting held on Tuesday in the Dadar office of the BJP, which was attended by senior BJP leaders, but nothing was finalised, and more meetings are expected,” the BJP leader stated.

“Our seat-sharing formula has been decided. Our target is to elect 150-plus Mahayuti corporators. A joint meeting of the BJP and Shinde Sena for the upcoming municipal elections was held today. Both the parties reviewed the election seats in the presence of key leaders at the BJP office in Dadar,” BJP leader and minister Ashish Shelar told media persons, but did not reveal any details.

BJP Mumbai President Amit Satam, election in-charge Ashish Shelar, BJP minister Yogesh Kadam, former MP Rahul Shewale, and other leaders from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena were present at the meeting.

“For the BJP, it is necessary to sort out differences with its allies before the crucial BMC elections because the BMC elections are a matter of prestige for us. This is because the BJP’s central and state leadership wants to avenge the betrayal of 2019 by ending the three-decade rule of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in the BMC. We already took some revenge by splitting the Shiv Sena in 2022, but the BMC is the lifeline and identity of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, and that is our next target,” the BJP leader said.

Yet the BJP’s dilemma is that it knows that the BJP will not be able to blunt the appeal of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena among Marathi-speaking voters on its own. “The BJP knows that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is the best tool to neutralise the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s hold among Marathi-speaking voters, though it also wants to have the upper hand when it comes to allotting seats,” sources said.

Tuesday’s meeting between the BJP and leaders of Eknath Shinde remained inconclusive due to the dynamics and arithmetic of seat sharing, though it is clear that both the BJP and Eknath Shinde will engage in some hard bargaining before they reach a seat-sharing deal.