Mahayuti Friendly Fire: This South Mumbai BMC Ward Is Lone To Witness Shiv Sena Vs BJP Poll Contest

Even as the Mahayuti firmed its alliance for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, there's one South Mumbai ward that stands out. In ward no. 225, an intra-alliance contest has emerged, as both Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party have fielded their candidates.

The BJP has fielded Harshita Narvekar against Shiv Sena's Sujata Sanap in a seat that used to be a stronghold of the undivided Sena. The party split in 2022, when Eknath Shinde rebelled against then party supremo Uddhav Thackeray.

Notably, there are a total of 227 electoral wards under the BMC. In the remaining 226 wards, the BJP and Shiv Sena are contesting under a pre-poll alliance.

While Shiv Sena's Sanap is the sitting corporator for the ward no. 225, Narvekar, the BJP candidate, is the sister-in-law of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar.

Both candidates, during a conversation with NDTV, termed the contest as a "friendly fight" and said that they do not really see the "Thackeray brothers" as a major challenge. They were referring to the coalition stitched between cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray.

After being at loggerheads for around two decades, the two Thackerays patched up their differences, which led to the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena contesting the BMC elections under a pre-poll arrangement.

During the local body elections in Maharashtra, the intra-alliance contest was a common phenomenon.

State level rivals — the NCP led by Ajit Pawar and the NCP (SP) led by his uncle Sharad Pawar have joined forces for the local body elections in Pune.

Similarly, the BJP and NCP are going head-to-head in Pune even as they are state partners under the Mahayuti alliance.

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