BJP-Shiv Sena combine may win the civic elections in Mumbai

The fight for control over Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appears all set for a photo-finish even as the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP combine may end up winning the maximum number of seats. Of the 186 seats for which results have been declared, the Shiv Sena has won 59 and BJP 30.

The Congress has won 40 seats, its ally NCP has got 12. The MNS has emerged victorious in 26 seats; while others have bagged 19 seats.

Of the 41 seats for which counting is underway, Shiv Sena is ahead in 12 seats, Congress is wining in 11 seats, NCP in four seats. Raj Thackeray’s MNS is ahead in two seats, RPI in three, while others are marching towards victory in nine seats - till 13.47 pm when last updates came in.

There are a total of 227 seats in BMC for which 2232 candidates are in the fray, counting began at 9 am on Friday. The Sena-BJP combine needs to win 114 seats to retain control.

Incumbent Mayor of Mumbai, Shradha Jadhav, has won her seat.

The Shiv Sena is contesting on 135 seats and BJP on 63. On the other hand Congress has fielded candidates on 170 seats and its alliance partner NCP on 57 seats. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray s in the fray for the second time with 223 candidates, while BSP is staking claims on 133 seats, SP (115), Communist Party (16), CPM (5), Janata Dal (Secular) (13), All India Forward Block (1), Lok Janshakti Party (9), Rashtriya Janata Dal (6), Janata Dal United (5).

The polling was held yesterday in Mumbai along with in nine other municipal bodies across the state.

Mumbai marked a turnout of only 45 percent; however, a top civic official said that the voter percentage has gone up by three percent as compared to 2007.

The Shiv Sena-BJP combine rules Mumbai, besides the neighbouring Thane (total seats 130), Ulhasnagar (78), Nashik (122) and Nagpur (145). Congress controls Amravati (87), the Congress-NCP combine rules in Pune (152) and Solapur (102). NCP alone holds Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body (126) while Congress alone rules in Amravati (87).

Billed as a mini-Assembly election, the polls are not just a test for Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray and his son Uddhav Thackeray but is also a pointer of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s strength in state politics.

While the Sena is desperately trying to extend its 16-year rule in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for another five years in alliance with BJP and Ramdas Athavale's RPI, the Congress has stitched up an alliance with NCP for the first time for the civic body polls.