Friends, Foes, Frenemies: Why Political Alliances in Mumbai’s BMC Polls Keep Changing Mumbai | Undercover Editor News Channel | December 14, 2025 Mumbai’s civic politics has rarely been about permanent friendships. Instead, it has been shaped by shifting loyalties, tactical partnerships, and sudden breakups — all driven by one high-stakes prize: control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest civic body. As the city moves closer to the upcoming BMC elections, expected early next year, familiar patterns are resurfacing. Allies are reconsidering old ties, rivals are exploring new equations, and parties are once again weighing ideology against electoral arithmetic. A City Where Alliances Are Fluid Over the decades, Mumbai’s municipal politics has witnessed repeated realignments. Parties that once fought bitterly against each other have shared power, only to part ways when political circumstances shifted. These frequent changes are less about personal rivalries and more about adapting to Mumbai’s complex voter base, ward-level dynamics, and the immense financial and administrative power of the BMC. Shiv Sena: From Ideology to Adaptability The Shiv Sena’s political journey in Mumbai best reflects this flexibility. Founded on a strong Hindutva and Marathi identity plank, the party has never hesitated to forge alliances beyond ideological comfort when the situation demanded. From its early association with socialist parties in the late 1960s, to unexpected tie-ups with Republican Party factions in the 1970s, the Sena repeatedly surprised observers. Its long-standing alliance with the BJP — marked by both cooperation and rivalry — dominated Mumbai politics for two decades, before cracks emerged ahead of the 2017 BMC polls. The post-2022 split in the party further reshaped equations. Today, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is reassessing options, including the possibility of new alliances, even as it signals readiness to contest independently if required. Congress: From Dominance to Strategic Caution Once the undisputed force in Mumbai, the Congress now finds itself navigating a far more crowded political field. In the decades after Independence, civic elections were largely internal contests within the party. But the rise of the Shiv Sena, BJP, and regional players steadily eroded that dominance. To stay relevant, the Congress increasingly leaned on alliances — with the Republican Party of India, the NCP, and later broader coalitions. While these arrangements delivered short-term gains, party leaders argue they weakened the Congress’s organisational base over time. That experience appears to be shaping current thinking. The party’s Mumbai unit has pushed strongly for contesting the BMC polls on its own, a view that has found acceptance at the national level. Leaders say local body elections are an opportunity to rebuild grassroots strength rather than depend on partners. BJP and the Mahayuti Strategy On the ruling side, the BJP enters the BMC battle as the most resource-rich and organisationally strong party in Mumbai. Its approach, however, is coalition-driven. The Mahayuti alliance — comprising the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP — is preparing a joint strategy. Seat-sharing, BJP leaders indicate, will be guided by “technical and strategic” considerations, reflecting ward-level calculations rather than rigid formulas. The aim is clear: consolidate votes and prevent fragmentation in a tightly contested civic race. Why Alliances Keep Changing At the heart of Mumbai’s alliance churn are three factors: What Lies Ahead As election preparations gather pace, Mumbai may yet witness new alliances — or sudden collapses of existing ones. While some parties believe unity is essential to counter the BJP’s dominance, others see independence as the only way to preserve identity and rebuild strength. One thing, however, remains certain: in Mumbai’s BMC politics, today’s ally can easily become tomorrow’s rival. And as history shows, flexibility — not permanence — has always been the defining rule of the game.
