Next on BJP’s horizon: BMC elections?

Former chief minister and BJPrsquos chief strategist in the recentlyconcluded Maharashtra assembly elections Devendra Fadnavisrsquo stunning return to the political centrestage has made everyone ask the inevitable question Will power dynamics shift in the urban local bodies too and will the next state government pave the way for municipal elections in the state including in MumbaiThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is Indiarsquos richest civic body FY 202324 budget was over R52000 crore and was scheduled to go the polls in early 2022 Yet for nearly three years there have no elections for the 227 corporator seats in the BMC leaving the cityrsquos administration to the commissioner and his team of bureaucrats first under Iqbal Singh Chahal and later under Bhushan GagraniBJPrsquos stunning landslide win in the state election is likely to give a fillip to the partyrsquos confidence of changing the equations at the local level too and therefore defeating its archrival and former alliance partner Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Even before the declaration of the results on Saturday the Mission 150 slogan that the BJP had coined for the partyrsquos BMC campaign in 2023 resurfaced In fact party insiders feel 150 is too low In a conversation with Sunday midday Ravi Raja vice president Mumbai BJP said on Saturday evening ldquoGoing by the state assembly election results the revised target for Mahayuti BJP Shiv Sena Shinde NCP Ajit Pawar would be 175180 and not 150rdquoRaja a former Congress leader of opposition in the BMC who recently joined the BJP emphasised the need for civic elections to be held soon BJP sources said that elections could be held as early as the first quarter of 2025 Raja told Sunday midday ldquoThe next Mumbai mayor will be from Mahayuti With a change in guard Mumbaikars will see better governance and speedy implementation of the infrastructure projectsrdquoA united Shiv Sena which split into the Eknath Shinde and UBT factions in October 2022 had asserted its dominance in city politics and administration as early as in the 1970s under the late party founder and supremo Bal Thackeray following a fierce and longdrawn battle with leftleaning trade unions Over the past few years however Shiv Senarsquos hold over Mumbai has been weakeningThe SenaBJP saffron alliance ruled the corporation for over two decades since the 1990s In 2014 this alliance broke at the city level and both parties decided to contest the 2017 elections independently The undivided Shiv Sena won 84 of the 227 seats while a strong BJP showing meant that it won 82 from 51 in 2012 This is the parity that the BJP wants to demolish The Shiv Sena managed to hold onto power in 2017 with support from independents and smaller parties In 2025 however the same independents and smaller parties may not be inclined to show their support especially if the UBT faction of the Sena performs weaklyTake the assembly election results In Mumbai of the 21 seats contested by the UBT camp it managed to retain only ten compared to 14 MLAs in 2019 of the then undivided Shiv Sena The BJP on the other hand won 15 of the 18 assembly seats it contested in Mumbai one less than 2019 The BJP which has been using ldquostrike raterdquo number of seats won in relation to those contested as its new performance benchmark has pointed out that the UBTrsquos assembly seat strike rate in Mumbai is 476237 compared to its 833337In February 2023 in a state executive meeting in Nashik the BJP gave its call for lsquoMission 150rsquo for the BMC elections The thenincumbent BJP MLA from Kandivli Atul Bhatkhalkar had proposed the resolution which was seconded by party MLA Amit Satam BJPrsquos chief spokesperson for Maharashtra Keshav Upadhye stated on Saturday that Fadnavis had played a key role in several important infrastructure projects in Mumbai especially the Metro rail network ldquoNow too the BJP is committed to developing a bigger Metro network and the party will continue to work towards its goalrdquo Upadhye told Sunday middayMeanwhile the Shiv Sena UBT said on Saturday that it will continue its fight against what it calls ldquothe dictatorshiprdquo and that ldquowe will leave no stone unturned to keep our base and bastion intactrdquo Shiv Sena UBT MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said defeat is not a new thing for the party rank and file ldquoPost formation of Shiv Sena the party has witnessed several defeats But it always made a comeback Now too our base will see a comeback Shiv Sainiks are known to be fightersrdquo Raut said On BJPrsquos electoral juggernaut he added ldquoOne cannot expect fair elections as long as BJP leaders are in power at the Centre As a party we will put our shoulders to the wheel to retain the BMCrdquo