Mumbai

As many as 32 of the 227 seats in the Mumbai civic body will see a direct contest between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, as no strong third-front candidate will be in the fray on these seats.

This situation has arisen as the Congress-Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi (VBA) alliance has not put up any candidates in these seats.

While Mahayuti partners BJP and Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, have formed a team for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS under Raj Thackeray have come together to “preserve” the Marathi language and culture.

Sources said the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) faced difficulties in fielding candidates in 21 of the 62 seats allotted to it in Mumbai. Party sources said the VBA chose not to risk the seats by nominating unsuitable candidates in some constituencies, while issues related to incomplete documents cropped up in others.

Realising the problem, the VBA informed the Congress on Tuesday morning that it would contest only five of those seats and allowed the Congress to field its candidates on the remaining 16 seats, the sources said.

The Congress has so far announced 143 candidates in Mumbai. With the VBA contesting 46 seats and six seats allotted to other allies, including Left parties and the Rashtriya Samaj Party, the Congress-led alliance has put up candidates in 195 seats.

This arrangement leaves 32 seats without a third-front contestant, ensuring no division of votes. “This situation could benefit the Thackerays as anti-BJP votes will not split,” a senior Sena (UBT) leader said, adding that the final picture would emerge after the scrutiny of nominations.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the VBA on Wednesday rejected reports of a possible rift within the alliance in Mumbai after 16 seats from the VBA’s quota allegedly remained uncontested by either party.

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“Since the announcement of our alliance, the ruling side has been losing ground. There is absolutely no dispute between us. On the contrary, our workers and leaders remain in constant communication without any glitch,” Mumbai Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.

The VBA also dismissed reports of discord over seat-sharing. Party spokesperson Siddharth Mokle said ruling parties sponsored such claims. “The Congress knew well in advance that the VBA would not contest those 16 seats. The Congress took appropriate action, and the reality will become clear to everyone once the scrutiny of nominations concludes,” he said.