On counting eve; Sena, BJP claim they will get majority in BMC

On the eve of counting, estranged ruling saffron allies, the Shiv Sena and the BJP, today claimed they will get majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on their own.

Elections for the 227-member BMC took place yesterday and counting of votes will be taken up tomorrow. Besides Mumbai, elections were also held for nine other corporations.

Sources in the Sena said the party's internal survey shows it will win 110 out of the 202 seats it contested.

On the other hand, sources in the BJP said the party is confident of bagging 108 seats on its own.

The half way mark to rule the civic body is 114 seats.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here, Maharashtra BJP President Raosaheb Danve said his party will win an absolute majority in the BMC.

"Of the 10 municipal corporations that went to polls, the BJP will come to power in six, including Mumbai," he said.

On the other hand, state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari claimed the BJP will be the single largest party in the BMC.

Commenting on the missing names in the voter list, he said the party will lodge a complaint with the State Election Commission (SEC) in this regard.

"It was incumbent on the SEC to ensure these things didn't happen. Had these names not gone missing, the BJP would have got more seats than what we are expecting," he said.

Meanwhile, Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe dismissed exit poll results that predicted a close contest between the Sena and the BJP in the country's largest civic body with none of them getting majority.

Gorhe said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party will defy exit poll results and get majority on its own.

The Sena and the BJP, which were allies in the BMC for over two decades, fought the February 21 polls separately.
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According to the Sena's internal survey, it will win maximum seats in its strongholds of South-Central Mumbai (Sewri, Lalbaug, Worli), Central-Western Mumbai (Kurla, Kalina, Chandivali, Santacruz), Western Mumbai (Bandra, Versova, Andheri), Central Mumbai (Wadala, Dharavi, Mahim, Dadar), North Mumbai (Dahisar, Borivali) and North-West Mumbai (Goregaon, Jogeshwari).

At a meeting, BJP leaders discussed their possible response to emerging scenarios after the results for 10 civic corporations and 25 Zilla Parishads are declared.