How parties fought for nominations before deadline

Both the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition alliance partners -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, and Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) – were locked in a seat-sharing dispute till the end of working hours on Monday

MUMBAI/NAVI MUMBAI: Chaos and a scramble for numbers dominated the halls of power 24 hours ahead of the deadline for candidates to file their nominations for the civic elections in Mumbai, to be held on January 15, while nomination centres wore a deserted look.

Mumbai, India. Dec 29, 2025 - Residents of Ward No. 96 held a protest outside Matoshree after the Shiv Sena (UBT) party gave the AB form to local leader. Mumbai, India. Dec 29, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)

Both the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition alliance partners -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, and Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) – were locked in a seat-sharing dispute till the end of working hours on Monday. One of the key reasons for holding back, say insiders, is the fear of rebellion in the ranks and candidates jumping ship at the eleventh hour. Meanwhile, with Congress and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and Ajit Pawat-led NCP entering the mix, Mumbai is set for a four-cornered contest.

In Navi Mumbai, however, the BJP and the Shiv Sena have decided to contest the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections separately, with party insiders indicating that neither side was privately keen on an alliance, even as formal talks continued till the last moment.

While party AB forms are expected to be issued by Tuesday morning, several aspirants, it has been learnt, have already submitted nominations without formal authorisation, underlining that organisational machinery was already geared for a solo contest.

Talks drag on

In Mumbai, senior BJP leaders Ashish Shelar and Ameet Satam remained confined in a marathon meeting with deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde at his official residence Nandanvan, in Malabar Hill. It is only by the end of the day that the poll pact was finalised.

People in the know said, the tug-of-war between the two ruling allies was over sharing seats in Marathi dominated areas such as Dadar, Girgaon, Parel, Mahim and Shivaji Park. “Shinde has demanded at least two seats in Mahim – both for former MLA Sada Sarvankar’s family. Sarvankar’s son Samadhan is already a corporator from one of the seats. For the other, Sarvankar is planning to field either his daughter or daughter-in-law,” said a party insider. Shinde, on the other hand, is looking to field at least one seat from the Lalbaug, a Marathi stronghold. It is believed that he was unhappy with BJP fielding Ganesh Khankar from ward number 7 (Magathane, Borivali) that was won by Sena’s Sheetal Deshmukh, a vocal spokesperson for the party. Sena is equally unhappy for not getting a seat in Malabar Hill and Vile Parle.

A senior BJP functionary said: “We are claiming only those seats where Shiv Sena corporators were found in a weak position in our internal surveys. The number of disputed seats has been reduced but each and every seat matters and hence both the sides are not giving up.”

The scenario is not very different across the battle line, as leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS struggled to finalise the poll pact. By the weekend, it was decided that Sena (UBT) would contest 160-162 seats and MNS around 65, with 10 to 15 to be given to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). However, with the faction’s tentative candidates, including Mumbai NCP (SP) chief Rakhi Jadhav quitting the party to join BJP or NCP, the scenario has changed. “It has made our task difficult as we had to pick a candidate for the additional seats,” said a senior Sena (UBT) leader.

Caution against rebellion

Fearing rebellion, all four parties chose not to officially announce the candidates lists. Instead, candidates were personally given nomination forms (also known as AB forms) that they need to submit along with candidature papers with the returning officer.

“We have to be cautious as disgruntled workers who do not get tickets have options now due to a four-cornered contest. A rebel candidate can cut into our votes,” said a Shiv Sena legislator. It is believed that the BJP handed over forms to 97 candidates by Monday evening.

A senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said the party had issued about 100 forms, with more expected later, at Matoshree. In fact, on Monday long queues of hopefuls were seen at the Thackeray residence. They had lined up outside the residence since Sunday. On Monday noon, son and daughter of late corporator Rajendra Suryawanshi – Anil and Chetan -- protested outside the Matoshri gate as they did not get the party ticket.

The MNS, it is believed, has decided on candidates for around 50 seats, and were yet to lock the names for 15 seats.

On Sunday, Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab, and Bandra (East) Sena MLA Varun Sardesai (nephew of Rashmi Thackeray) got into a war of words with Parab seeking a ticket activist Shekhar Waingankar from ward no 95 in Kherwadi and Sardesai rooting for Hari Shastri, son-in-law of late Shiv Sena MLA Shrikant Sarmalkar who had helped him in the Assembly elections. Finally, Parab walked out of the meeting.

“There is much heartburn among our people and we will need days to pacify those who have been rejected,” said an MNS leader. In Vikhroli, leaders of the party said that they had succeeded in getting one seat for their candidate. The party is in dispute with Sena (UBT) for the Bhandup seat where Anisha Majgaonkar of MNS and Rajool Patil, daughter of Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Dina Patil are in a fight.

Meanwhile, commenting on the deserted look at the nomination centres, returning officer at the Dahisar office said: “We had expected a huge turnout and had prepared 24 teams for sorting the papers and another five for accepting cash deposits besides keeping eight others for drafting reports, but were surprised to see such a weak response.”

BJP, Sena go solo in Navi Mum

The public collapse of negotiations between the BJP and Shiv Sena merely formalised what has long been evident — parallel preparations, competing power centres and aggressive ticket-seeking by returning defectors.

Beyond seat sharing arithmetic, the talks were driven by a contest for civic control. In a Ganesh Naik-led BJP bastion, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena is pushing to expand its independent footprint. An alliance would have meant sharing the mayoralty and key committees — a concession neither side was willing to make.

Seat-sharing discussions did not move from the initial claims – Sena demanded 57 of the 111 seats, citing its sitting strength and organisational presence, while the BJP was willing to offer only 20. Neither side showed flexibility, despite multiple rounds of discussions at the city and state levels.

Navi Mumbai BJP president Rajesh Patil said negotiations continued more in form than substance. “We gave a proposal of 20 seats. They asked for 57. No counter-proposal has come,” Patil said. “We are prepared to contest either way.”

Patil said meetings were held with BJP state president Ravindra Chavan and minister Ganesh Naik in Navi Mumbai on Monday, after which the matter was to be discussed with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

“But preparations on the ground were already underway,” he said.

Shiv Sena leaders said while instructions for the alliance came from the state leadership, resistance locally made the tie-up at the local level made the tie-up unworkable. Navi Mumbai Sena chief Kishore Patkar said the alliance collapsed because of leaders who had returned to the BJP after stints in the NCP.

“Eknath Shinde had ordered that we contest with the BJP in alliance, and we were fully ready. Even BJP’s Belapur MLA Manda Mhatre was ready,” Patkar said. “But those who had earlier left the BJP, returned from the NCP, and are now seeking tickets; they did not want an alliance and created hurdles. That is why the tie-up failed. We are confident of having our mayor in NMMC.”

Patkar said the Shiv Sena followed alliance protocol by not inducting BJP aspirants. “If we had taken BJP candidates, it would have signalled the alliance was off. But they began taking our candidates, which made their intent clear,” he said.

On the opposition side, alignments remain fluid. NCP’s Navi Mumbai city chief Bharat Jadhav said, “We are contesting on our own, and our candidates will file nominations on Tuesday.”

MNS city chief Gajanan Kale said the MNS will contest with the MVA, excluding NCP.