Mumbai: Even as counting for the elections to Maharashtra 10 civic corporations and 25 zila parishads were underway, early trends for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections suggest the Shiv Sena may cross the 100-seat mark, leaving its main rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with less than 70 seats.
Trends available for the 118 seats of the total 227 seats in Mumbai after five rounds of counting showed Sena is leading in 60 seats and the BJP in 36. Exit polls suggested a much closer contest than this.
Also read: BMC election results live updates
The Congress party was leading in 11 seats, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in five seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was leading in four seats.
The BMC result will be significant for two reasons. One, it will determine the future of the BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, where Shiv Sena is a partner. Two, it will show whether Shiv Sena is still the political big brother in Mumbai unchallenged by a resurgent BJP.
If the Sena wins more than 100 seats in Mumbai, leaving the BJP a distant second, party chief Uddhav Thackeray may be encouraged by the cadres to pull out of the Maharashtra government, leaving the Devendra Fadnavis government in minority. In the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly, the BJP has 122 seats and Shiv Sena 63.
Also read: Devendra Fadnavis govt faces big civic polls test
“If Shiv Sena wins 90-plus seats and we are somewhere around 70-75, Shiv Sena will most likely not seek our support. It will see to it that its mayor is appointed with support from other parties and independents,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
Asked if the Shiv Sena would think of pulling out of the state government in a scenario where it has won 90-plus seats, the BJP leader said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray “is known to be an ambivalent politician who has rarely taken swift decisions”.
The Shiv Sena has virtually ruled the BMC since 1997 though the BJP has been a junior partner.
The Sena was also leading in its stronghold of Thane city, leading in 15 seats, while the BJP was leading in eight seats, as per trends emerging from the total 131 seats. In all other eight cities though, the BJP has established a substantial lead in early trends over others. In Pune, the BJP was leading in 35 seats of the total 162 seats and NCP was leading in 13. The Pune Municipal Corporation is currently ruled by NCP.
In Nagpur, the BJP took lead in 19 seats of the total 151, according to early trends available for 27 seats. In Nashik, which is currently ruled by MNS, the BJP took a strong lead in 18 seats, followed by Sena in eight seats.
A record high turnout in Mumbai—55.53% with 36 of the 227 civic wards witnessing more than 60% polling—has made the contest interesting. In absolute terms, 5,097,565 voters took part in the polling out of the total electoral college of 9,180,491 registered voters.
A spokesperson for the state Election Commission said the results of BMC and other civic elections would be out by 2pm.
