Shiv Sena (UBT) to hold key BMC election meeting in Mulund on June 9

Aaditya Thackeray, among other Sena UBT leaders, will address the meeting on Monday. File pic/Kirit Surve Parade

The Shiv Sena (UBT) is shifting gears for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls scheduled later this year. The party has organised a meeting at Mahakavi Kalidas Natyamandir in Mulund on June 9 to reach out to grassroots workers.

The UBT camp is leaving no stone unturned as this will be the first civic elections since the split in the Shiv Sena. "Local body elections will be a litmus test for our party and the poll needs to be won at any cost," a Sena UBT functionary said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

According to the party sources, Aaditya Thackeray will be addressing the gathering. Besides him, other UBT leaders, too, will deliver speeches that will decide the future course of the party's line and action.

"Every attempt would be made to keep the flock together. Hence, such a meeting has been organised. More such meetings will be conducted as elections near," the party functionary added.

The BMC was scheduled to go to polls in early 2022. But for over three years, there have been no elections for the 227 corporators due the OBC reservation case pending in the court. However, last month, the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra government to conduct polls within four months. Now that polling draws closer, with the BJP gearing up to fulfil its dream of installing its mayor, the UBT camp is trying its best to retain power. For 25 years, the Sena (undivided) and BJP were in alliance and ruling the civic body. But in 2017, the BJP and the undivided Sena contested civic polls separately.

The undivided Shiv Sena won 84 of the 227 seats, while BJP exhibited a strong show and managed to bag 82 seats (a massive jump from its tally of 51 in 2012). However, after a split engineered by Ekanth Shinde, the Shiv Sena camp has weakened. Such is the situation that of the 84 elected corporators, 43 of them have exited and joined the Shinde camp.

No wonder, this civic election is a do-or-die battle for the UBT, especially when Shinde Sena is flexing its muscle in Mumbai and even the BJP has set a target of ‘mission 150' for the BMC polls.

Going by the recently conducted Assembly polls, the BJP seems to be in the driving seat in Mumbai as Shinde is likely to make a dent in the UBT vote bank. Last year, during the 2024 Assembly polls in Mumbai, of the 21 seats contested by the UBT camp, it could only retain 10, compared to 14 MLAs in 2019 (of the then undivided Shiv Sena). The BJP, on the other hand, won 15 of the 18 Assembly seats it contested in Mumbai.

June 9
Day Sena UBT meeting will be held in Mulund