Amidst the ongoing political turmoil in Mumbai, Shiv Sena Uddhav faction leader and MP Sanjay Raut launched a scathing attack on Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP. Describing Shinde faction as “Amit Shah’s Shiv Sena”, he said that the real Shiv Sena is the one which is led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Raut said in clear words that whether it is Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections or Maharashtra Assembly elections, his party contests on its own and does not beg in front of anyone. The political atmosphere in Mumbai seems to be heating up before the upcoming BMC elections.

Real Shiv Sena claim and direct attack on BJP

Sanjay Raut said that the real identity and supremacy of Shiv Sena lies with his party and he does not come under any pressure. He has used abusive language while targeting Shinde group. This statement of Raut is being considered very aggressive in political circles. He also reiterated that Shiv Sena never depended on external forces and will contest elections on its own principles in future also.

Sanjay Raut’s reaction on the demise of former Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Sanjay Raut gave a very brief response to the question related to the death of the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He said that what will he say on this subject and there will be mourning in that country. Raut maintained distance from making any kind of political comment on this issue.

Only slogan of Jai Maharashtra will do – Sanjay Raut

Raut also raised questions on BJP making Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and other big leaders as star campaigners for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections. He said that what is the need for Modi ji to come in this election, is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra not capable? Raut alleged that efforts are being made to spoil the atmosphere by bringing Yogi Adityanath and Chief Ministers of other states. He said that if someone says that only the slogan of Jai Shri Ram will work in Mumbai, then he believes that only the slogan of Jai Maharashtra will work in Mumbai.

Congress Party has released the second list of 52 candidates for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections 2025–26. Open, OBC, SC and women reservation category candidates from various wards have been included in this list.

Let us tell you that Congress has not formed an alliance with Mahavikas Aghadi’s party Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar for the BMC elections. Rather, this time Congress has announced an alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.

According to the second list, these are the names of Congress candidates

According to this list, Pradeep Ramakant Choubey from Ward No. 03 Maghathane, Ratnaprabha D. Junnarkar and Sadanand B. from Ward 08 and 09 Dahisar. Chavan, Bina Ramkubar Singh from Ward 31 Charkop, Meena Dubey, Madhu Brijesh Singh and Rahul Ugle from Ward 37, 39 and 41 Dindoshi have been fielded. Swati Eknath, Samita Nitin Sawant, Siddiqui Shabana Bano and Priyanka Manish Mishra have been given tickets from Ward 52, 74, 78 and 79 of Jogeshwari East.

Congress has nominated Suryakant Mishra from Ward 58 of Goregaon, Gladys Shrier and Sufiyan Haider from Ward 60 and 65 of Versova, Gayatri Gupta, Imran Khalil Sheikh and Nitin Salgare from Ward 72, 75 and 86 of Andheri East. Pramod Narvekar, Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Iqbal Qureshi, Sharad Dinkar Shejawal and Supriya Santosh Pathak have got tickets from Ward 87, 92, 93 and 94 of Bandra East and Gauri Chhabria, Sunita Suresh Vevekar, Karen Demello and Reshma Zakaria have got tickets from Ward 97, 99, 100 and 101 of Bandra West.

Apart from this, Manisha Santosh Sonawane from Ward 103 of Mulund, Ajay Patel and Shreya Rakesh Shetty from Ward 109 and 112 of Bhandup, Khushboo Rajesh Gupta from Ward 120 of Vikhroli, Nasir Khan from Ward 126 of Ghatkopar West and Vaishali Phalke from Ward 133 of Ghatkopar East have been fielded. Shaikh Farzana Reddy Vasha and Sufiyan Abdul Mubeen from Ward 143 and 145 of Anushaktinagar, Ganesh Awasthi and Sangeeta Subhash Bhalerao from Ward 149 and 151 of Kurla, Prahlad Vishwanath Shetty, Mohammad Imran Abul Hasan Khan, Khan Mohd. from Ward 159, 161, 162 and 163 of Chandivali. Aamir Arif and Jain Sonu Shailesh have been made candidates.

According to the list, Ghanshyam Bhapkar from Ward 166 of Kalina, Smita Shankar Mhatre and Kamlesh Ramdular Yadav (Pappu Yadav) from Ward 180 and 181 of Sion Koliwada, Mariammal Muturamalingam and Ayesha Aslam Khan from Ward 188 and 187 of Dharavi, Dayashankar Ramgopal Yadav from Ward 190 of Mahim, Ward of Wadala Suresh Kale from Ward 200, Apoorva Pravin Salistekar from Ward 205 of Shivadi, Khan Mohammad Waqar Nisar Ahmed from Ward 211 of Byculla and Rajshree Mahesh Bhatankar and Gyanraj Yashwant Nikam from Ward 216 and 223 of Mumbadevi have been declared Congress candidates.

Sharad Pawar has suffered the biggest setback before the BMC elections. NCP Sharad Pawar faction’s Mumbai president Rakhi Jadhav has joined BJP today (Monday, December 29). He has met local BJP MLA Parag Shah. After this Rakhi Jadhav went to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his Varsha Bungalow.

For the past several days, the issue was being discussed as to whom Sharad Pawar’s NCP will support in Mumbai. Sharad Pawar had two options. One is Uddhav Thackeray and the other is Congress. However, in the meantime, BJP, playing a big gamble, took Sharad Pawar’s Mumbai President to its side. Due to this, Sharad Pawar’s party has got a big shock before the BMC elections.

Rakhi Jadhav was angry about seat distribution

Rakhi Jadhav has joined BJP in the presence of MLA Parag Shah. When there was a rift between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, Rakhi Jadhav supported Sharad Pawar. However, later there was resentment among them regarding the distribution of seats. Due to this Rakhi left Sharad Pawar.

It is being told that Rakhi Jadhav had given a list of 52 possible candidates to Sharad Pawar. He believed that NCP-SP would get at least 30 seats in the alliance. However, this did not happen. Rakhi Jadhav had expressed displeasure over the fact that senior leaders did not try to get more seats.

Now what will be Rakhi Jadhav’s next step?

If sources are to be believed, BJP may give ticket to Rakhi Jadhav from Ghatkopar. However, it is also believed that BJP workers can revolt in whichever ward Rakhi Jadhav gets the ticket from. This means that before the BMC elections, BJP’s own workers may get angry with this move.

The nomination papers of jailed local criminal Bandu Andekar for the municipal elections in Pune remain incomplete. He was brought under police security for nomination on Saturday (27 December), but the form was not accepted due to lack of complete documents. Now on Monday 29th December, an attempt will be made once again to complete this process.

Let us tell you that the special MCOCA court of Pune had given conditional permission to Bandu Andekar that he can file nomination for the municipal elections. Following this order, on December 27, he was brought from Yerwada Central Jail to the designated government center at Bhawani Peth in a police van. During this time his face was covered with a black cloth and both his hands were tied with a rope. While being taken inside the centre, Andekar also raised slogans in his support – ‘Good work is Andekar’s name, vote for Andekar means vote for development’.

Election officials’ decision and legal aspect

According to election officials, the nomination paper submitted by Bandu Andekar was incomplete, hence it could not be accepted immediately. Officials clarified that the process was not considered complete due to non-submission of required documents.

Andekar’s lawyer Mithun Chavan said that the nomination has been filed, but some formal documents are still pending. According to PTI, to fulfill these, Andekar will have to complete the nomination process again on December 29. According to Chavan, Andekar wants to contest elections as an independent candidate from Bhawani Peth ward office.

Other family nominations and electoral background

Andekar’s sister-in-law Lakshmi Andekar and daughter-in-law Sonali Andekar have also filed their nomination papers after the court’s permission. Both of them are also accused in the case related to the murder of Ayush. Ayush was shot dead in Nana Peth area on September 5. He was the son of Ganesh Komkar, who is an accused in the murder case of Vanraj Andekar, a former councilor of the Nationalist Congress Party and son of Bandu Andekar. Voting for the elections of 28 other metropolitan municipalities of Maharashtra including Pune is to be held on January 15, hence this matter has become a topic of discussion at both political and administrative levels.

Ajit Pawar has made a big announcement regarding Maharashtra Municipal Corporation elections. He has said that his party will contest the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections together with Sharad Pawar’s party.

Ajit Pawar said, “There is no problem. Normally, while contesting the candidature in Pimpri Chinchwad, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—that is, ‘Ghadi’ and ‘Tutari’ are facing the election together.”

This is why uncle and nephew are coming together

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, “Many people had the same thing in their minds. After all friends, many of us are farmers. Farmer is your and my identity (caste). Therefore, some things have to be done for the all-round development of Maharashtra.”

‘You will understand everything in two days’

He said that this time all the leaders were sitting and discussed the distribution of seats. The distribution of seats has been done properly with some changes. You will get complete information in two days. If I say something now and it is not like that, then people will say – look, what he said and what happened. So, please be patient for two days. You will understand everything in two days.

Ajit Pawar said, but please do not fall into any false promise. Do not succumb to anyone’s bullying or pressure. Would you like me to summarize the main points of this speech or provide more information about the current political situation in Maharashtra.

Ajit Pawar’s party NCP has released the first list of candidates for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The party has announced the names of 37 candidates in this. Let us tell you that in this election, on one hand, Shiv Sena and BJP are contesting together, while on the other hand, Ajit Pawar’s party is contesting separately.

In the list of 37 candidates released by NCP for BMC elections, Manish Dubey has been given ticket from Ward No. 3. Vilas Dagdu Ghule has been made the candidate from Ward 40. Cyril Peter D’Souza has been given ticket from Ward 48. Ajay Dutta Vichare has been made the candidate from Ward 57.

To whom did NCP give ticket from which ward?

Apart from this, NCP of Ajit Pawar faction has fielded Ahmed Khan from Ward 62. Hadiya Faisal Qureshi has been made the candidate from Ward 64. Baban Ramchandra Madane has got the ticket from Ward 76. Mamta Dharmendra Thakur has been given a chance from Ward 77. Subhash Janardan Patade has been made the candidate from Ward 86. Apart from this, tickets have been given to Yusuf Abubakar Memon from Ward 92, Dr. Sachin Tambe from Ward 93, Amit Ankush Patil from Ward 95, Ayesha Shams Khan from Ward 96, Dhananjay (Dada) Pisal from Ward 111.

Along with this, Sajju Malik from Ward 109, Pratiksha Raju Ghuge from Ward 126, Shobha Ratnakar Jadhav from Ward 113, Nagaratna Sandeep Bankar from Ward 139, Harishchandra Babaling Jangam from Ward 125, Chandni Ajay Srivastava from Ward 142, Akshay Mohan Pawar from Ward 135, Dilip Harishchandra from Ward 144. Patil, Jyoti Devidas Sadawaten from Ward 140, Ankita Sandeep Dravey from Ward 147, Ku. Rachna Ravindra Gavas, NCP has made Laxman Shrirang Gaikwad its candidate from Ward 152.

When will the elections be held for BMC?

NCP’s Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare had said on Saturday (December 27) that meetings are going on with everyone for the last three days and all the information regarding this has been informed to Ajit Pawar. The party can contest elections on approximately 100 seats. Elections are to be held on a total of 227 seats in BMC. Elections for 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra including Mumbai’s BMC will be held on January 15. The results will be declared on January 16.

Before the municipal elections including BMC in Maharashtra, the alliance between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray has created a new stir in the politics of the state. Now the reaction of Deputy CM Eknath Shinde has also come out regarding this alliance. He has said that this alliance has been made not for the people of Mumbai but for the chair.

Ahead of the elections, Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde said, “Mahayuti is strong and we have a clear agenda of development, but today some people have come together just for the agenda of the chair. They have nothing to do with Mumbaikars.”

Congress- Uddhav group workers join Shiv Sena

In fact, on Wednesday (December 24), hundreds of Shiv Sena UBT and Congress officials and workers from Nashik and Kolhapur districts joined Shiv Sena in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Shinde. On this occasion, Eknath Shinde, while targeting the Uddhav Thackeray group, said that some alliances are in the interest of the public and the state, while some are done for selfishness, power and survival. No matter who has alliance with anyone, Mahayuti is strong in Maharashtra.

‘The public showed them their place’

He further said, “Mahayuti has won both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In the city councils, Shiv Sena alone has elected the maximum number of city presidents as compared to the three parties of Mahavikas Aghadi. The people of Maharashtra have shown their place in three and a half years to those who left Balasaheb’s ideas.”

‘Mumbai is considered a hen that lays golden eggs’

Deputy Chief Minister Shinde also said, “Till now, Mumbai was considered a hen that lays golden eggs. Earlier they kept eating the eggs and now they have come together to slaughter the hen. In today’s press conference, they did not say even a word on the development of Mumbai. Mahayuti has an agenda of development, whereas they have an agenda of power and chair. They have gathered to get power and save the chair.”

The seat sharing formula of Mahayuti is now considered almost fixed. There was a detailed discussion on finalizing the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in a marathon meeting between Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP State President Ravindra Chavan at Shinde’s residence in Thane that lasted for about five hours.

This meeting started late in the night and continued till 4 in the morning, in which there were indications of agreement on coordination of seats in various municipalities of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) including Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli. The alliance has now reached the final stage and an official announcement is likely to be made soon.

Who attended the meeting?

Shiv Sena MP Dr. Shrikant Shinde, MP Naresh Mhaske and General Secretary Rahul Shewale were also present in the meeting. According to sources, in the next two days, discussions will be held at the local level regarding division (ward) level candidates, so that the names can be decided keeping in mind the ground equations. During this, the leadership, achievements and efficiency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were also discussed in detail, where the leaders present shared their personal experiences with PM Modi and emphasized on strengthening the alliance.

Devendra Fadnavis and Ravindra Chavan’s pair is finding love!

Bharatiya Janata Party has once again proved itself to be the number-1 party in the Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections of Maharashtra. BJP has achieved historic success in these elections on the basis of development-oriented politics of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and strong organizational ability, precise strategy and effective leadership of BJP State President Ravindra Chavan.

These results of local self-rule organizations have further strengthened the credibility of the “Devendra-Ravindra” duo, which has been held in high regard for a long time among Maharashtra BJP workers. The slogan echoed during the election campaign “Tumchi Aamchi BJP Sarvanchi” (Your-Our BJP, Everyone’s BJP) has been realized by the public in the form of votes. State President Ravindra Chavan said this while talking to journalists after the results.

Ravindra Chavan is playing an important role!

Ravindra Chavan, after assuming the responsibility of state president six months ago, ran a disciplined, restrained and aggressive public relations campaign across Maharashtra. During this period, the organization was strengthened by including many senior leaders in BJP. These elections were considered to be the real test of the leadership of Ravindra Chavan, who had a strong hold in the Konkan region, in which he proved successful by getting full marks.

In these elections, in many parts of the state, BJP was in direct competition with Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction). Despite this, due to the political acumen of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and organizational ability of Ravindra Chavan, BJP won many important places. Besides, both the leaders did the math very well to ensure that the balance of power is maintained in the Grand Alliance.

The discussion has also intensified in the political circles that through these results, BJP has given a message of its political status to the leaders of the second row of allies. These election results have also given a new dimension to the ongoing speculations regarding the relationship between Shrikant Shinde and Ravindra Chavan.

Now all eyes are on the municipal elections to be held in January, especially the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It is believed that if the Devendra-Ravindra duo moves forward with a similar strategy, then BJP’s dominance can continue in the coming municipal elections also. In such a situation, it will be very important politically to see with what strategy the allies of Mahayuti enter the field.

Preparations of all political parties for BMC elections 2026 are going on in full swing. Meanwhile, seat sharing is also being discussed in Mahayuti. Last night (Monday, December 22) an almost two-hour long meeting of Mahayuti took place at Varsha Bungalow. According to sources, before this, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a separate meeting with his senior leaders and reviewed the upcoming municipal elections, in which an in-depth discussion was held especially regarding the Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

Quoting sources, it has been revealed that consensus has already been reached on 150 seats of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, while the remaining 77 seats were discussed on the night of Monday, December 22. During this time, consensus has been reached on about 30 to 35 seats, while it has been agreed to hold another meeting soon and take a final decision regarding the remaining seats.

Seat sharing will be finalized in a day or two

It was also decided in the meeting that the final seal on seat distribution would be given by the afternoon of Tuesday or Wednesday (23 or 24 December).

What happened in MVA so far?

The equations of the opposition grand alliance party of Maharashtra now seem to be changing. Amidst the departure of Congress and the possibility of entry of Raj Thackeray, seat sharing is also being discussed in a new way. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena UBT currently has 145 seats out of 227 seats in Mumbai. At the same time, Raj Thackeray’s MNS can still get 65 to 70 seats. Apart from this, Sharad Pawar’s NCP SP may get 10 to 12 seats.

Apart from this, Raj Thackeray’s MNS has also decided to put a pause on the announcement of alliance until seat sharing is fully discussed. Once both the parties agree on seats, only then should the Thackeray brothers announce the alliance. In such a situation, it is believed that the alliance between Raj and Uddhav Thackeray has been postponed.

The alliance between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray is almost finalized before the BMC elections 2026. It was learned from sources that Thackeray brothers are going to announce their coming together through a press conference on Wednesday, 24th December. However, now there is talk of putting brakes on this alliance by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), due to which the political temperature has become high in the opposition alliance party.

In fact, MNS’s stance is that the alliance should not be announced until seat sharing is complete and a final decision is taken from both sides.

Talks on seats are still going on

Actually, MNS soldiers are curious about when the alliance between Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena UBT and Raj Thackeray’s MNS will be announced. However, since the final talks on seat sharing are still going on and consensus has not yet been reached on some seats, there is talk of some delay in the announcement of the alliance.

Alliance should be announced only after resolving differences- MNS

Sources say that talks are still going on between the two sides on some seats. Wherever there are differences, efforts are being made to resolve them. Therefore, MNS has taken the stand that the alliance will not be announced until these differences are resolved.

Where is the disagreement between the Thackeray brothers?

According to the information received so far through sources, discussion is going on in MVA on Amrathi departments of Mumbai. Talks are going on as to what should be done in the Amrathi departments of Mumbai like Ghatkopar, Kandivali, Borivali, Mulund. At the same time, till now Raj Thackeray’s MNS has been given 65-70 seats. At the same time, Uddhav Thackeray is expected to have 145 to 150 seats. Apart from this, Sharad Pawar’s NCP SP may get 10-12 seats.