BMC Elections: Samajwadi Party to Contest BMC Elections Independently

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has decided to break ties with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and will contest the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently, announced the party’s state president and MLA Abu Azmi.

The Samajwadi Party currently has two MLAs in Maharashtra, representing Bhiwandi East and Mankhurd-Shivajinagar. In the 2017 BMC elections, only 6 out of 224 SP candidates were elected.

Although the Samajwadi Party is part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance at the national level, Azmi clarified that this alliance will not extend to local body elections in Maharashtra.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi did not allocate any seat to the Samajwadi Party in the state. At that time, Azmi had criticized the alliance, saying it wanted Muslim votes but not Muslim candidates. In the 2024 state assembly elections, the SP had demanded 12 seats but was offered only 2, prompting it to field candidates in all 12 constituencies on its own.

Azmi has now announced that the SP will rely on its own strength for the local polls. The party’s main voter base in Maharashtra consists of Muslim voters. However, after the Shiv Sena split, many Muslim voters in Mumbai supported Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) in the assembly elections.

There is also an internal rift within the SP between state president Abu Azmi and secretary Rais Shaikh. The party appears divided between North Indian Muslims (supporting Azmi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh) and Marathi Muslims (supporting Shaikh, originally from Satara). Shaikh has been the SP’s group leader in the BMC for many years.

The Samajwadi Party faces a challenge as Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has gained significant support in Mumbai’s Muslim-dominated areas. Meanwhile, Rais Shaikh is reportedly exploring options to join another party, while Azmi is said to be trying to avoid action from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

At the same time, both the AIMIM and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are actively trying to attract Muslim voters. In this context, Azmi’s announcement to “go alone” in the BMC elections is seen as an attempt to consolidate support among North Indian Muslim voters in Mumbai and to distance himself from the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.

Also Read: We Won’t Contest BMC Elections With Uddhav Thackeray, Let Alone Raj Thackeray: Bhai Jagtap