The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena reached a seat-sharing deal for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls on Monday, just a day before the deadline for filing nomination papers closes on December 30.
Under the agreement, the BJP will contest 137 seats, while Shiv Sena will contest 90. Some seats have been allocated to their alliance partners.
The seat-sharing arrangement was announced by Mumbai BJP president Amit Satam late on Monday. He confirmed that candidates from both parties would file their nominations on Tuesday.
The BJP has already released its first list of 70 candidates, with the party's state media chief, Navnath Ban (38), being the youngest among the contestants. Ban will contest from ward number 135 in Shivajinaa.
Elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, will be held on January 15, with votes to be counted the following day.
Ajit Pawar's NCP, a major constituent of the ruling Mahayuti, has decided to contest independently in Mumbai and has announced 64 candidates so far.
A total of 357 nomination papers were filed on the penultimate day for submitting nominations on Monday, bringing the cumulative tally to 401 nominations so far.
In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won 82 seats, two seats behind its then-estranged ally, Shiv Sena (undivided), while the opposition Congress was reduced to just 31 seats.
The NCP (undivided) and Raj Thackeray's MNS managed to win 9 and 7 seats, respectively.