BMC elections 2026: Sanjay Nirupam seeks 90 to 100 seats for Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam on Tuesday said his party should get 90100 seats in the BMC elections 2026 including the wards won by the undivided Shiv Sena in the 2017 civic elections a demand that came amid alliance talks with the BJPAddressing a press conference Nirupam also accused Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray of abandoning the ideals of party founder Bal Thackeray by joining hands with the Congress and jihadi MuslimsThis is not acceptable to Marathi manoos Nirupam claimedBy all circumstances Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor and certainly a Mamu or Khan will not be the one he saidAny attempt to do so will be thwarted Nirupam further saidThe Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha criteria should be applied to the BMC elections 2026 the former MP saidHe said during the Vidhan Sabha polls seats won by the undivided Shiv Sena were allotted to the Eknath Shindeled Shiv SenaWe expect that the same formula should be applied in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls Nirupam saidOf the 84 former corporators of the undivided Shiv Sena some 6065 have joined the Shindeled Sena and were assured election tickets he said adding that former corporators from other parties like the Congress have also joined the SenaWith 90100 seats to Shiv Sena the BJP and Shiv Sena can give a good fight he addedTalks between Shiv SenaBJP are underway to firm up an alliance between the two parties for the BMC elections 2026Mahayuti wave to extend to municipal corporations says Sanjay NirupamNirupam said the Mahayutirsquos strong performance in the recent municipal council and nagar panchayat elections indicates that a similar wave will be seen in the forthcoming municipal corporation pollsAddressing a press conference in Mumbai Nirupam said that although the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party NCP contested the local body elections independently voters delivered a clear mandate in favour of all three Mahayuti partners ldquoA Mahayuti tsunami was visible in these elections and the same momentum will carry forward into the municipal corporation pollsrdquo he saidCiting figures Nirupam said the BJP topped the results with a 63 per cent strike rate followed by Shiv Sena with 55 per cent and the NCP with 44 per cent He added that the outcome reflected public approval of the Mahayuti governmentrsquos performance with beneficiaries of schemes targeting women farmers youth and senior citizens backing the alliance ldquoWe are confident that Mahayutibacked mayors will be elected in the maximum number of municipal corporationsrdquo he saidNirupam also launched a sharp attack on the Shiv Sena UBT faction claiming voters in the Konkan region had decisively rejected it for ldquoabandoning Hindutvardquo He said the UBT faction was wiped out in Palghar Thane Raigad Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts and failed to secure a single municipal council presidentrsquos post in Ratnagiri Sindhudurg and Raigad Overall UBT recorded a strike rate of just 185 per cent and finished fifth in the municipal council results while Shiv Sena won 53 council presidents compared to UBTrsquos nine he saidThere are a total of 227 seats in the BMC Elections to 29 civic bodies in Maharashtra will take place on January 15