The BJP and the Shiv Sena are all geared up for the election to 227 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which will be held on Tuesday, February 21. The counting of votes will take place on February 23, and the results are expected to be declared the same day. Meanwhile, the fate of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hangs in the balance.
The BMC, which is also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), covers an area of 480 sq km, and is considered one of the richest organisations in India, given that it administers the financial capital of India. The Shiv Sena has ruled the BMC with help from the BJP, but this time the alliance is on the rocks, and threatening to take down the state government as well.
The BJP has not been too mindful of the Shiv Sena at the Centre, with no Sena MP finding a place in the Union Cabinet since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. As a result, the Sena has been threatening for quite some time to pull out from the BJP-led alliance that is ruling Maharashtra right now.
The BJP has 122 MLAs as of now, which is painfully short of the midway mark of 145 it needs to stay in power, and the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are in no mood to help it in case the Sena withdraws its support. It is under these circumstances that the BJP is looking to make a clean sweep of the BMC.
However, that looks unlikely without the support of the Shiv Sena, which has already called upon known Modi-baiter Hardik Patel – who is spearheading the Patel quota agitation in Gujarat – to woo the Gujaratis of Mumbai and get their votes.
What may further queer the pitch is low turnout – an almost predictable phenomenon for any election in Mumbai. With fewer votes, it will become even more difficult to forecast who will emerge victorious on February 23.
