Allies-turned-foes Shiv Sena and BJP were neck and neck in the fight for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls on Thursday after months of acrimonious campaign for India’s richest civic body, rife with verbal volleys, name-calling and graft charges.
The Shiv Sena was narrowly in the lead, winning 84 seats, followed closely by the BJP with 80. A party needs 114 seats to stake claim to the mayor’s post.
Results of 225 out of 227 electoral wards had been announced till evening with counting for two constituencies still underway.
Among other parties, the Congress has won 31 seats, a far cry from the 52 seats that the party won in 2012. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has won in nine wards, the Samajwadi Party in six, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in seven, and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in three. Besides, four seats have gone to independent candidates, while the Akhil Bharatiya Sena has clinched one.
This was the first BMC election since 1997 to see the Shiv Sena and the BJP contesting independently, making it a prestige issue for both the parties. The regional party was fighting to hold on to its home turf while the BJP – fresh from its success in the 2014 assembly polls – was seeking to make deeper inroads
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