BMC Polls | With no Cong-VBA candidate, 29 wards to see two-cornered fight
For the Congress, the party sources claim that it is concentrating on areas which it has a chance of winning and avoiding seats where it failed to poll satisfactory votes in the previous election.
As many as 29 of the 227 seats for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls will see a two-cornered a fight as the Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) led by Prakash Ambedkar have not fielded candidates in these seats.
In these 29 seats, BJP-Shinde Sena alliance will be involved in a direct fight the Sena UBT and MNS.
A majority of these seats are from western suburbs, parts of south Mumbai and some areas in eastern suburbs.
As part of their alliance for the BMC polls, Congress is contesting on 143 out of 227 seats in Mumbai, while the VBA is fighting on 46 seats.
The VBA was expected to contest 62 seats but the party could not find candidates in 21 seats. Later, they fielded their candidates in five of these seats, leading to a friendlly fight with Congress and other allies in these wards – 133 (Rashtriya Samaj Party), 125 (RPI-Gavai) and 116, 140 and 181 (Congress).
“Avoiding vote division on 29 seats will put BJP and Shinde led Sena in a direct fight with the partie led be Thackerays. In a closely fought ward elections, avoiding division of few hundred votes can produce a different result,” said a senior Sena UBT leader.
For the Congress, the party sources claim that it is concentrating on areas which it has a chance of winning and avoiding seats where it failed to poll satisfactory votes in the previous election.
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“We are focusing on areas where we know about our strong voter base. We are fighting the election with full strength and do not want to read too much into this,” said Sachin Sawant, chief spokesperson, Mumbai Congress.
Out of the 29 seats which will see a two-cornered fight, majority of 13 were won by the BJP in 2017 elections. While 15 were won by the united Shiv Sena, around six of them have now shifted to Eknath Shinde led Sena. The Congress corporator won at ward number 141 in 2017 has now shifted to Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).
The seats won by the BJP were ward numbers 13,14,15,16, 21, 46, 80, 84, 106, 132, 172, 226 and 227. While the corporators shifted to Shinde Sena include ward number 6, 11, 12, 18, 115 and 117. The wards held by Thackeray led Sena include 19, 25, 40, 128, 153, 182, 191, 198 and 203. Ward number 141 was won by the Congress but since the corporator shifted to Sena BT, the party has decided not to contest it this time.
Sources said that the Congress has ensured its presence in all 36 Assembly seats and some seats which have gone uncontested could give a strategic push to other Opposition parties. “While focusing on our strong areas, the idea is to avoid division of votes which could swing anyway,” said another Congress leader.
Alok Deshpande is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express' Mumbai bureau, recognized for his focused and authoritative reporting on governance, politics, and the socio-economic dynamics of Maharashtra's hinterlands. His unique academic background in Geology and early work in the water sector provides a specialized layer of Expertise to his reporting on resource and environmental issues.
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Current Role: Special Correspondent, The Indian Express, Mumbai.
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Alok Deshpande's rare combination of scientific education, non-profit sector experience, and deep political reporting makes him a highly trusted and authoritative voice on the governance and ground realities of Maharashtra.
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