BMC Polls: Seat-Sharing Rift Deepens in Mahayuti as Shinde Sena, BJP Lock Horns

Seat-sharing negotiations within the ruling Mahayuti alliance ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections have run into serious trouble, with differences emerging between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The disagreement has centred on the distribution of seats, particularly those won by the undivided Shiv Sena in the 2017 civic polls.

According to sources, during a recent meeting between leaders of the two parties, the Shinde-led Sena referred to the 2017 BMC election results and demanded all 84 seats that were secured by the then-unified Shiv Sena. The BJP, however, rejected this demand outright, arguing that the current political scenario is markedly different from that of 2017.

The BJP maintained that the political equations have changed significantly over the years and cautioned that a direct contest between the Shinde-led Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena could weaken the Mahayuti alliance's prospects in the civic body elections. The party stressed that seat allocation must reflect present-day ground realities rather than past outcomes.

In this context, the BJP asserted that seat-sharing would be decided based on a "winnability" formula. Under this approach, the Shinde-led Sena would be allotted only those constituencies where it currently has a strong organisational presence and a higher chance of winning. The BJP has conveyed that this criterion would guide the final distribution of seats between the alliance partners.

Out of the total 227 seats in the BMC, the two parties are reportedly at loggerheads over 77 seats. Senior leaders from both the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena are expected to hold further discussions over the next two days in an effort to break the impasse and arrive at a mutually acceptable arrangement.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Election Commission on December 15 announced the election schedule for 29 municipal corporations across the state, including the BMC. According to the poll body, voting will be held in a single phase on January 15, 2026, with the counting of votes and declaration of results scheduled for January 16.

In preparation for the civic polls, Mumbai BJP president Amit Satam has constituted a 20-member committee to oversee the selection of candidates for the BMC elections. The committee is headed by Satam and includes Union Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, as well as several state cabinet ministers and MLAs.