After bitter tussle, Sena & BJP finish neck and neck in Mumbai

PHOTO FINISH Civil poll results may either compel the alliesturnedfoes to join hands or compete for tacit support from other parties

:Allies-turned-foes Shiv Sena and BJP were neck and neck in the fight for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls on Thursday after months of acrimonious campaign for India’s richest civic body, rife with verbal volleys, name-calling and graft charges.

The Shiv Sena was narrowly in the lead, winning 84 seats, followed closely by the BJP with 80. A party needs 114 seats to stake claim to the mayor’s post.

Results of 225 out of 227 electoral wards had been announced till evening with counting for two constituencies still underway.

The results are likely to lead to another round of tussle between the two erstwhile partners that would have to either join hands or aggressively compete for tacit support from other parties and independents to win power.

“We have the support of a few independents, and are confident of emerging as the party with the highest number of seats in the BMC,” BJP Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar said.

Among other parties, the Congress has won 31 seats, a far cry from the 52 seats that the party won in 2012. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has won in nine wards, the Samajwadi Party in six, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in seven, and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in three. Besides, four seats have gone to independent candidates, while the Akhil Bharatiya Sena has clinched one.

This was the first BMC election since 1997 to see Shiv Sena and the BJP contesting independently, making it a prestige issue for both the parties.

The regional party was fighting to hold on to its home turf while the BJP was seeking to make deeper inroads into the country’s financial capital.

Following the Congress’ dismal showing, city party chief Sanjay Nirupam offered to resign, taking blame for the party’s lacklustre performance. The party also maintained it would neither support the Sena nor the BJP. The Congress’ hold on Mumbai has been consistently loosening since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with the party grappling with factionalism and infighting.

The Sena posted victory in several of its bastions. the party managed to reclaim its citadel of Dadar and Mahim, which it had to cede to the Raj Thackeray-led MNS in the 2012 civic polls.

Senior Sena leaders such as Mangesh Satamkar, sitting