BJP-Shinde Alliance Sets 150 Seats Target for BMC Election
Mr. Shelar said that winning more than 150 seats is the “formula and number” decided by the alliance partners
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has set a target of winning more than 150 BMC seats. At a joint strategy meeting at the BJP’s Dadar office, senior leaders from both parties finalised their electoral formula. BJP election in-charge Ashish Shelar ruled out alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Mumbai as long as Nawab Malik is the party’s Mumbai unit president.
Mr. Shelar said that winning more than 150 seats is the “formula and number” decided by the alliance partners. “Yes, our formula is set, and our number is also set. Electing 150 plus corporators for the Mahayuti (grand alliance) in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation this is our number, this is our formula, and this is our decision,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by Amit Satam, BJP Mumbai President, alongside Shinde Sena leaders like Minister Yogesh Kadam and former MP Rahul Shewale.
Mr. Shelar confirmed that the discussion was focused on which seats the allies, including the Republican Party of India (RPI), would contest to ensure the alliance’s victory on more than 150 seats. He indicated that a final decision on the precise number of seats each party will fight will be finalised within the next day or two following another round of talks.
The BJP leader also asserted that the party will not change its stand regarding the alliance with the NCP in Mumbai. “Nawab Malik is leading the Nationalist Congress Party in Mumbai. Therefore, we absolutely cannot align with such an NCP. This is the firm stand of our party. I have conveyed this decision directly to Shivaji Rao Nalawade, the working president of the NCP faction, who had met me recently,” Mr. Shelar said.
Mr. Malik faces allegations of association with the Dawook Ibrahim gang members. These allegations were raised by chief minister Fadnavis during his stint as the Leader of Opposition in 2021. In 2023, Mr. Fadnavis had also written to Ajit Pawar opposing the former minister’s inclusion in the Mahayuti.
The long-delayed elections to the BMC, Asia's largest civic body with a budget of Rs 74,000 crore in 2025-26, will be held on January 15 and results will be declared the next day. The undivided Shiv Sena ruled the BMC for nearly two decades with the BJP as its junior ally.
Without taking the name of Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, Mr. Shelar remarked some people had already started putting up posters making emotional appeal to Marathi people. Dismissing Shiv Sena (UBT)’s claims about separating Mumbai from Maharashtra, the BJP leader said, “Such posters prove that those people have already accepted their defeat. Marathi people have seen who looted BMC in the last 25 years. They have decided to embrace change in the next month’s polls.”