Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 18: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections may have crowned the BJP as the largest party but it is still not the winner and the real contest is just beginning. As Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde keeps his 29 corporators in a five-star hotel, apparently to foil any poaching attempt after NDA’s victory in the BMC polls, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has added to the suspense and said the “game is on.”
With the mayoral vote ahead and margins slim, ally Shiv Sena is guarding its corporators in a Bandra hotel amid fears of last-minute churn. While the BJP has won 89 seats, its ally Shinde-led Shiv Sena has secured 29, a majority of just four seats together in a house of 227 members. With margins this narrow, even a small shift could complicate control of the civic house.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has said the municipal elections were over, but the “real politics is yet to unfold.” Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha MP and a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray, has claimed that a “lot is happening behind the scenes” and that any majority, no matter how big, is “fickle.” Adding a swipe, he has said members of Team Thackeray are going to the five-star hotel for lunch where Shinde’s corporators were held on.
Shinde, whose rebellion split the Shiv Sena and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in 2022, is now an ally of the BJP and has won 29 seats in this civic election. Amid the celebrations and political remarks in the aftermath of the poll results, the Shinde camp started moving its corporators to a five-star hotel in Mumbai, sparking a buzz in the city’s political circles.
Party leaders said the move was meant to guard against poaching or last-minute defections. With the stakes high and the numbers close, even a few corporators switching sides could alter the balance. Once the majority is secured, the ruling side decides who will occupy the mayor’s chair. The process mirrors how the prime minister or chief ministers are chosen – elected representatives pick their leader from among themselves.
Raju Waghmare, Shiv Sena leader and a close aide of Eknath Shinde, dismissed any speculation of the Shinde faction members joining hands with the Shiv Sena (UBT). “Has Sanjay Raut started seeing a Jyotish (astrologer) now?” He keeps on lying regularly,” he said. Asked why Team Shinde’s corporators are now in a hotel, he replied, “There is a group of looters who have looted Mumbai for so long and will now try and loot our people too. Hence, we’ve kept them in the hotel.”
Asked if Team Shinde is trying to protect its corporators from its arch-rival Sena (UBT) or its ally, BJP, Waghmare said, “We are not afraid of anyone, it’s just prevention, from everyone.” Waghmare said Sena (UBT) must accept they are losing. “They should accept that Mumbai’s Marathi Manoos has thrown them out.” He said the leaders of the Mahayuti will sit together and discuss which party’s corporator will be put in the Mayor’s seat. “(Sena) UBT must not forget that when they were with BJP, the BJP had more corporators but still gave a chance to them to put their mayor on the seat,” he said.
Waghmare said Shinde Sena has put its corporators in a hotel. “We don’t want anybody to try to coerce them and anybody trying to convince our corporators. We fought the election properly. We want all formalities to be completed properly. That’s why we kept our corporators in a secluded place,” he said.
Despite losing control of the civic body, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reiterated that it remained his “dream” to see a Shiv Sena (UBT) mayor in Mumbai and said that dream could still come true “if god is willing.” A day after the results, Uddhav also made a cryptic remark suggesting that his party could still have its mayor in Mumbai, though he did not spell out how.
Although the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Mumbai polls, its tally remains well short of the majority mark on its own. This has triggered concerns within the party as well, particularly given the expectations it had set before the elections.
Ahead of seat-sharing talks, the BJP had initially planned to contest more than 155 seats and aimed to win around 120–125. However, after the intervention of the party’s central leadership, Shinde is said to have negotiated aggressively and secured 91 seats for his party, leaving the BJP with 137. With its reduced seat share, the BJP revised its target to 110 seats but managed to win only 89.
“The party had inducted 11 sitting corporators from other parties, taking the tally of sitting corporators to 93, including its own 82, ahead of the polls. We could not even retain that number,” said a BJP leader. Party leaders have attributed the underwhelming finish to lack of coordination within the Mumbai unit, flawed candidate selection, and the failure to counter the “Marathi asmita and Mumbai pride” pitch made by Raj and Uddhav Thackeray.
Leaders from the opposition camp also argue that the numbers tell a different story if the Shiv Sena had not split. Sena (UBT) leader Sunil Prabhu said the BJP’s success was possible only because the Shiv Sena was divided. Former Congress leader Sanjay Jha also had the same view, in a post on X, he said, “If SS was united, the BJP had no chance in the BMC elections.” He added that if the factions truly wanted to “restore the SS glory,” a patch-up could still force the BJP into the opposition.
The figures back the argument. While the BJP won 89 seats, Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena secured 65 and Shinde’s faction 29. Together, the two Sena factions would have had 94 seats — more than the BJP’s tally. An alliance with the Congress could have comfortably pushed them past the majority mark.
On the other side, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, and NCP (Sharad Pawar) won 65, six, and one ward, respectively. This adds up to 72. The Congress won 24 wards, AIMIM eight, and the Samajwadi Party two. If the Opposition decides to join ranks, the tally would go up to 106, eight short of the majority. While this is highly unlikely, considering the political positions of these parties, it remains a possibility.
It is against the backdrop of this poll math that Team Shinde does not want to take chances. If the Opposition manages to come together, they need just eight corporators from Mahayuti to switch camps and turn the tables on the BJP.