BJP launches poll campaign for all Mumbai Lok Sabha seats

Mumbai: While it is still unclear how many Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai will be contested by the BJP and its alliance partners, the party on Saturday launched six digital campaign chariots for all seats in the city. Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar flagged off six chariots, which will apprise the development works carried in the last ten years of Modi government.

In 2019, the BJP  and Shiv Sena contested three Lok Sabha seats each in Mumbai. The NCP also contested the Mumbai North East seat in alliance with the Congress. However, the BJP is preparing to contest five out of six Mumbai seats in 2024 leaving the sixth seat to the Eknath Shinde led party. Ajit Pawar’s NCP will not be offered any seat in the financial capital of the country. However, the Shiv Sena is not ready to give up any of the seats it contested in 2019 and the NCP also wants one seat in Mumbai.

While the seat sharing negotiations in the alliance are hanging in balance, the BJP has gone ahead with its preparations for all six seats. Informing about the party’s digital chariots, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said it is part of his party’s outreach programmes for the Lok Sabha elections. He added that the BJP has already taken a lead on all fronts of the election campaign against its opposition parties.

“The BJP will continue to reach out to every section of the society. We have started building a connection with various sections of the society including the women self-help groups, the Anganwadi workers and the health workers from Mumbai. We have set up a competent ‘Super Warrior’ system at every polling station. Every worker is working hard to ensure that Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister for the third term,” Mr. Shelar said.  

An insider in Mahayuti (BJP-Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena-Ajit Pawar led NCP) said that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena have been staking claims of Mumbai South Mumbai, Mumbai North West and Mumbai South Central seats, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has demanded Mumbai North East seat, which is currently represented by BJP MP Manoj Kotak. However, the BJP leadership communicated to their alliance partners to be reasonable while demanding the seats. “The seat-sharing negotiation is still going on with the Shiv Sena and NCP. But we are expected to contest at least four to five seats in Mumbai,” said a BJP leader.