Overview
- The Ajit Pawar-led NCP released its first list of 37 BMC candidates, including three relatives of Nawab Malik, and fielded recent defector Dhananjay Pisal from Ward 111.
- Party leaders indicated they plan to contest roughly 100 wards in Mumbai after alliance talks with the BJP did not progress.
- The BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena reported agreement on 207 of 227 BMC seats—128 for the BJP and 79 for Shinde’s party—as the BJP named its first 66 candidates.
- Ajit and Sharad Pawar’s factions will contest the Pimpri-Chinchwad polls together, and NCP-SP’s Rohit Pawar said the two sides will also fight jointly in Pune with seat sharing decided.
- Opposition alignments advanced with Congress allocating 62 BMC seats to the VBA and AAP lifting its declared slate to 51 wards, with nominations due by December 30, voting on January 15, and counting on January 16.