Mumbai Mayor Election Live Updates: 4 Team Uddhav leaders go ‘missing’ ahead of voting

MUmbai city manager Election unrecorded Updates: The BJP-led Mahayuti, which swept the Brihanmumbai Municipal corp (BMC) elections endure hebdomad, will appoint a woman mayor from the open category in Mumbai following the completion of the lottery-based reservation process on Thursday.The decision came as a setback for the Shiv Sena (UBT), which had expected the mayor’s post to be reserved for a Scheduled Tribe woman, since both eligible candidates in that category belonged to Uddhav Thackeray’s party.With the reservation process concluded, focus has now shifted to the probable contenders for the BMC mayor’s post. The leading names include Alka Kerkar, a three-time corporator and former deputy mayor, and Rajashree Shirwadkar, also a three-time corporator.Opposition's rigged lottery allegationsThe lottery-based reservation process sparked strong opposition criticism, with the Shiv Sena (UBT) alleging that it was manipulated to favour the ruling alliance. As the draw was being conducted, the party claimed the exercise had been fixed to benefit the BJP–Shiv Sena combine.Former Mumbai mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar, who attended the meeting, alleged that the government had altered reservation norms for the Scheduled Tribe category by increasing the minimum number of seats from two to three across municipal corporations.“This amounts to an injustice to SCs and STs, as Mumbai was excluded from these reservations, as well as from OBC reservation,” she said.UBT faction appeals to Shinde-led SenaAmid the battle for control of civic bodies across Maharashtra, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader on Friday appealed to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to back the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s candidate in the BMC mayoral election, rather than support its ally, the BJP.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Bhaskar Jadhav said such support would serve as a tribute to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in his 100th birth anniversary year. “Those who claim to uphold Balasaheb’s ideals and project themselves as his true inheritors should support the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate in the BMC polls. That would be the real tribute to Balasaheb in his birth centenary year,” Jadhav told PTI.He added that anyone asserting themselves as the true inheritors of Bal Thackeray’s legacy should not side with the BJP.More on BMC election resultsIn the January 15 BMC elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats. The Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde secured 29 seats, helping the Mahayuti alliance cross the halfway mark of 114 seats needed to form the civic administration.The Shiv Sena (UBT), which governed the BMC for 25 years since 1997 when the party was united, won 65 seats. Its allies—the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)—bagged six seats and one seat respectively.Given the narrow margins, Shinde-led Sena moved its winning corporators to a hotel in Bandra to prevent any poaching attempts.