Sanjay Raut says Shiv Sena (UBT) might go solo in BMC election

BMC polls: Sanjay Raut said that most party Shiv Sena (UBT) workers want the party to go solo in the crucial local body polls.

After MVA's disappointing performance in the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly election, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said his party might contest the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said Raut said his party's power in Mumbai is undisputed.(ANI)

"Talks are on between Uddhav Thackeray and other party leaders (about whether to go solo) for the BMC polls. Workers want the party to contest the polls solo," PTI quoted Raut as saying.

Exuding confidence in his party's ability to score well in the polls, Raut said that Shiv Sena (UBT)'s influence in Mumbai is undisputed.

"If we had more seats to contest in Mumbai (during the assembly polls), we would have won them," Raut said, claiming that it was necessary to win Mumbai or else the city would be separated from Maharashtra.

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The Maharashtra leader further noted that even before the Shiv Sena split, when the party was in alliance with the BJP, it contested the BMC and other civic body polls independently.

However, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader clarified that the MVA will exist in the Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nashik civic bodies.

Raut's remark comes after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde confirmed that the ruling Mahayuti alliance, consisting of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, would contest the BMC elections as a united front.

BMC elections

The next BMC elections are expected to be held soon as the term of the previously elected representatives in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ended in March 2022.

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Since then, the BMC has been operating without elected representatives for nearly three years, including the COVID-19 period.

Notably, the Shiv Sena, before its split, had controlled the BMC, India's richest municipal corporation, for 25 consecutive years from 1997 to 2022.