Exit polls predict hung house in Mumbai civic body
The biggest question is who will have mayor, because neither BJP nor Sena has clear majority.
Mumbai: The indications coming in from exit polls for the BMC elections, is currently showing a hung house. With the Shiv Sena leading and the BJP not far behind, the biggest setback is for the Congress, MNS and NCP. An exit poll by Axis Indian Today shows, Shiv Sena getting 86-92 seats, while the BJP closely following Sena with 80-88 seats. There are total 227 seats in BMC and 114 is the margin one needs to touch so that it can have its mayor.
On the other hand, the Congress as per the exit poll is wining 30-34 seats a major setback for the party, which currently has 52 seats. Similarly, the MNS which is shown as winning a mere 5-7 seats is suffering a major blow the party has 28 corporators. The numbers for NCP is descending, with the exit poll giving it single digit figure of 3-6 seats.
The exit polls have good news for the Sena and BJP. It says the Sena which currently has 75 corporators in the house will have an increase of up to 11-16 seats and the BJP which has right now 32 seats will be the biggest gainer with more than 50 extra seats on its side. These are major Congress and MNS seats that the BJP is winning.
However, the BJP is still not ready to accept the poll figures. Madhu Chavan, party spokesperson said, “These numbers are indicative, we are sure we will be number one and the BMC will be ruled on the mantra of transparency.”
The biggest question is who will have mayor, because neither BJP nor Sena has clear majority and Sena president has clearly stated that he won’t extend any support to BJP. The only possibility, which is unlikely, is of the Congress lending support to the Sena, or may be like Kalyan Dombivali, BJP and Sena might come together after firing salvos at each other during campaign.