NCP (SP) pins hope on MVA partners for BMC polls, Jayant Patil holds talks with Uddhav

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Jayant Patil said the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) should have ideally contest the BMC polls together with the Congress.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, BMC polls, NCP (SP),

Jayant Patil said discussions on seat sharing were still underway and no conclusion had been reached during the meeting. (Express file photo)

By: Express News Service

3 min readMumbaiDec 26, 2025 09:26 PM IST First published on: Dec 26, 2025 at 09:26 PM IST

Amid fluid alliance talks ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil on Friday met Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray at latter’s residence Matoshree for holding seat-sharing talks for the January 15 BMC polls.

Patil said discussions on seat sharing were still underway and no conclusion had been reached during the meeting, but expressed hope that his party would contest the civic polls in alliance with Sena (UBT) and is positive for it.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Patil said the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) should have ideally contest the BMC polls together with the Congress.

“That was our view, but that is not happening as of now. Therefore, we are holding talks with Sena (UBT) and the Congress. We will comment only once the talks conclude. So far, discussions have been positive, but they are not final,” he said.

On Thursday, the NCP (SP) opened negotiations with the Congress for the BMC elections after attempts to arrive at a workable seat-sharing arrangement with the Sena (UBT)–MNS combine did not materialise.

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NCP (SP) initially sought around 50 seats from Congress. However, Congress functionaries indicated that the party may eventually offer around two dozen seats, citing NCP (SP)’s limited but notable presence in certain pockets of Mumbai and a few recognisable faces in the civic body.

Patil acknowledged the party’s relatively weaker organisational strength in Mumbai compared to Sena (UBT) and Congress.

“In the BMC, we do not have the strength that Sena (UBT) and Congress have. That is why we are looking to align with our MVA partners. Congress continues to be part of the MVA. We also discussed the political situation across the state with Sena (UBT). We are hopeful that the alliance will materialise with Sena UBT,” he said.

He further pointed out that seat-sharing talks have hit hurdles as Sena (UBT) has laid claim to seats where NCP (SP) has sitting corporators from the previous BMC term.

Speaking about Sena (UBT)’s understanding with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). he said, “There are differences and hurdles, but we hope these will be resolved,”Patil said.

Earlier in the day, Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the party wanted NCP (SP) to contest the BMC elections along with Sena (UBT) and that talks would be held with a positive outcome expected.

Meanwhile, there has been no official announcement on seat sharing between Sena (UBT) and MNS as well. Despite this, Sena (UBT) has begun issuing AB forms to its candidates to enable them to file nominations, signalling no official announcement of seat sharing formula.