Historic win: BJP takes control of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, ends Thackeray family’s dominance

MUMBAI: The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has won control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Asia’s richest local body. The BJP–Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena alliance came to power by ending nearly 28 years of dominance by the Thackeray family. In the election held for 227 wards, results for 217 wards have been declared so far. The Mahayuti alliance has won 116 seats. The BJP secured 88 seats, while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 28 seats.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena won 74 seats. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) won eight seats, while the Congress is leading in 11 seats. After a gap of 20 years, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray contested the elections together this time. At the same time, political observers note that despite losing the party symbol and a section of party workers, the Uddhav faction retaining more than 60 seats shows that the influence of the Thackeray family has not completely ended.

Winning control of the BMC, which has an annual budget of over Rs 74,400 crore, is seen as a major political victory for the BJP. Responding to questions on whether the new mayor would be from the BJP or the Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde said the mayor would be from the Mahayuti alliance. A final decision will be taken jointly by alliance partners in the coming days.