BMC Poll Results:The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance registered victory in the recently conducted Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections by winning 118 out of the total 227 seats. The ruling alliance's victory ended the dominance of Shiv Sena (undivided), which had been ruling the richest municipal body of the country for the past two decades. While the final data suggests that the Mahayuti comfortably crossed the halfway mark, a split in the opposition's votes could be one of the major reasons behind Uddhav Sena's loss. As per the data released by the Election Commission, the BJP and Eknath Shinde's Sena won at least 32 wards due to a division in the opposition's vote share.
As per the Election Commission, Rakha Yadav of the Shinde Sena won in north Mumbai’s Dahisar West ward number 1 by 2,474 votes. While Congress candidate Sheetal Mhatre got 5,070 votes, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Foram Parmar got 4,313 votes. Similarly, BJP’s Rupesh Savarkar won by 538 votes in Andheri West ward number 63 against Sena UBT’s Devendra Amberkar. However, Congress candidate Priyanka Sanap got over 4,000 votes.
Apart from this, the numbers also suggest that the performance of the opposition alliance could have been better if Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM was part of their plans. BJP’s Navnath Ban won by 2,058 votes in Mankhurd ward number 135; however, AIMIM and Sena UBT together got more than 7,000 votes. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders stated that Raj Thackeray's MNS was included in the alliance to consolidate the Maratha voters.
However, the Congress distanced itself from the opposition alliance, citing Raj Thackeray's controversial remarks. "Uddhavji decided to join hands with Raj Thackeray. It was not possible for us to go with them. We may have suffered more losses had we gone with Thackeray brothers,” Mumbai Congress chief spokesperson Sachin Sawant stated.