BMC Elections: Mahayuti finalises seat-sharing pact; BJP to contest on 137 seats, Shiv Sena on 90; where is Pawar's NCP?

The Mahayuti finalised its seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on Monday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 137 seats, while the Shiv Sena will field candidates on 90 seats.

Both parties will also allocate a portion of their respective quotas to allied parties within the Mahayuti alliance, the Shiv Sena was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

Candidates from both the BJP and the Shiv Sena are expected to file their nomination papers on Tuesday, according to the Shiv Sena press release.

Mumbai BJP president Ameet Bhaskar Satam revealed the seat-sharing agreement. He said the finalised arrangement will participate in joint campaigning in the coming days.

"BJP- Shiv Sena Mahayuti's discussions have come to an end. We had arrived at a consensus for 207 seats earlier. After arriving at a consensus on all 227 seats, the BJP will contest 137 seats, and the Shiv Sena will contest 90," Satam was quoted as saying

"All our other allies will be included in this formula. In the coming days, we will take part in joint campaigning...," Satam said.

Where is Ajit Pawar's NCP?

The NCP and NCP (SP), headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar respectively, sealed an alliance for the upcoming elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation on Monday.

The fresh tie-up was announced a day after the NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti, and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), a member of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), finalised an alliance for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections in the Pune district.

“After NCP (SP) Pune unit chief Prashant Jagtap's exit from the party, several workers approached the party working president Supriya Sule and requested the need for joining hands with NCP,” said NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday.

"A decision on the alliance has been taken considering the sentiments of local party workers," Rohit Pawar said.

The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations are politically crucial for the Pawar clan, given that several IT and industrial units are located in the jurisdictions of the two civic bodies.

The area has remained a bastion of the Pawars for decades.

MVA seat-sharing pact

Earlier, Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal announced that the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) will contest 62 of the 227 seats under the alliance in the BMC elections.

Sapkal said the BMC elections are not about a struggle for power for the Congress, adding that seat-sharing is not the party's primary concern.

"Both parties are coming together. They will contest 62 seats. This is not a power struggle, but a convergence of ideas, and for us, seat sharing is not that important; we will go forward with the ideas," he told ANI.

BMC election dates

The Maharashtra State Election Commission announced elections to 29 municipal corporations across the state, including Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Polling for Mumbai's 227 wards will be held on January 15, with vote counting scheduled for January 16.