Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Dec 27: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are close to finalising their seat-sharing arrangement for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, with an agreement reportedly reached on 200 of the 227 wards in Mumbai ahead of the January 15 polls to the country’s wealthiest civic body.

Sources said a late-night meeting of the ruling Mahayuti alliance—comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP—was held at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s residence in Thane to discuss alliance strategies for upcoming municipal elections in Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Navi Mumbai. More meetings are lined up on Friday for Mumbai and other civic bodies, including Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Panvel and Mira-Bhayandar.

In Mumbai, the Congress is exploring new political alignments and is set to hold talks with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), following differences with Shiv Sena (UBT) over the latter’s tie-up with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has confirmed that his party will contest the BMC elections in alliance with the MNS and the NCP led by Sharad Pawar. The inclusion of the NCP (SP) comes after Sharad Pawar rejected a seat-sharing proposal from the Ajit Pawar faction, which reportedly offered his party only 35 seats.

Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray is expected to chair a meeting of MNS leaders at his Shivtirth residence to finalise the party’s election strategy, including campaign issues and candidate selection.

Across Maharashtra, alliance talks continue in several civic bodies, with leaders from different parties holding parallel meetings to iron out seat-sharing arrangements and election strategies ahead of the local body polls.