The Opposition NCP on Thursday became the first party to get off the blocks for the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls scheduled for February 2017, as it released its first list of 45 candidates and it clearly indicated that the party would go it alone in the polls.
Talking to media persons after releasing the party’s first list of 45 candidates for the civic polls, NCP’s Mumbai unit president Sachin Ahir ruled out the possibility of the party entering into an alliance with the Congress in the BMC polls. “The NCP will contest the BMC polls with its full strength. We will soon release the remaining list of candidates for the polls,” Ahir said.
Ahir said that the party had prepared its first list of candidates after its parliamentary board interviewed the ticket aspirants and the party’s senior top leaders, in Sharad Pawar and party’s in-charge for Mumbai Jayant Patil, had vetted the list. “We have given preference to young and educated persons while finalising the first list of candidates,” he said.
With the NCP deciding to go it alone in the BMC polls, it has become crystal clear now that Congress will all the 227 seats (or close that) in the February 2017 polls.
In essence, the BMC polls will likelihood be a five-horse race-that is of course if the Raj Thackeray-led MNS does not enter into a last-minute truck with the Shiv Sena, which will contest independent of its senior ruling alliance partner, BJP.
The five leading parties that will slug it out in the BMC polls will be: Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress, NCP and MNS. As of now, the Shiv Sena tying up with the BJP for the BMC polls is as good as ruled out. This is given that the ruling BJP has made its mind to expand its base in Mumbai, during the BMC polls. Similarly, the Congress and NCP will contest the polls on their respective strengths.
However, what one can not exactly rule out is the possibility of the Sena having seat-sharing arrangement with the MNS.
Whatever may be the case, the BMC polls will be crucial for all the major political parties.
The BMC is the largest civic body in Asia. Its annual budgetary outlay, which is a staggering 37,052 crore budget for 2016-17, is larger than that of several smaller states in the country.