BackBJP, Shiv Sena may decide on tie-up for BMC elections by 21 January
The issue of seat-sharing in Mumbai municipal elections did not come up for discussion in the meeting between BJP and Shiv Sena on Monday
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Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena are likely to take a final call on a pre-poll alliance for election to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) by 21 January, functionaries from both the parties said. On 16 January, leaders from the two parties held preliminary discussions.
A BJP leader who attended the meeting said on the condition of anonymity that both parties wanted to give their likely candidates “enough time to file nominations". The filing of nomination for the BMC polls begins on 27 January and the last date is 3 February. Polling takes place on 21 February.
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The BJP leader also said seat-sharing did not come up for discussion at the meeting on Monday. “We just discussed the need for fighting this election on the common agenda of transparency and development. Seat-sharing would be taken up at the next meetings," he said. He added that the BJP would insist on contesting 115 of the 227 seats.
Kirit Somaiya, BJP MP from Mumbai North East constituency, said BJP deserved to get a larger share of the total civic seats based on its performance in three elections since May 2014. “We won the highest number of seats in the Lok Sabha election in 2014 in Maharashtra. In the assembly elections in October 2014, we became the single largest party in the state by some distance and we also won more seats than the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. In the recent municipal council elections, the BJP won as many as 72 posts of municipal council presidents on its own while the Sena won only 26. We are a much bigger party now and deserve to contest more seats if a pre-poll alliance is to be formed," Somaiya said.
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The seat-sharing formula the BJP plans to offer looks at the 15 seats the BJP won in Mumbai in the 2014 assembly elections. The Shiv Sena won 14 seats. As per the BJP’s calculation, it could win at least four of the six civic wards in each assembly constituency that it won in 2014. The BJP leader cited above said the party accepted the same rationale for Shiv Sena seats as well. “The BJP could win at least 60 civic wards from 15 assembly constituencies it represents and Shiv Sena could win at least 56. Of the remaining 111 civic wards, BJP should get 55 by virtue of being the bigger party," said the BJP leader.
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