BJP releases first list of 70 candidates for Mumbai civic polls; check names

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday released its first list of 70 candidates for the upcoming elections to the Mumbai civic body, a day before the deadline to file nominations ends.

While the list includes some corporators who won the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls in 2017, prominent among the nominees is the BJP's state media chief Navnath Ban, 38, who is the youngest among the contestants.

Ban will contest from ward number 135 in Shivajinaar area.

Elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the high-stakes Mumbai, will be held on January 15, and votes will be counted the next day.

In the BMC elections held in 2017 for 227 seats, the BJP made giant strides in the Shiv Sena citadel of Mumbai, winning 82 seats, just two seats behind the estranged ally Shiv Sena (undivided).

The Congress was relegated to the third position with 31 seats, whereas the NCP (undivided) and Raj Thackeray's MNS were reduced to 9 and 7 seats, respectively.

AIMIM had won three seats on debut, Samajwadi Party six, Akhil Bhartiya Sena one, and Independents four.

A total of 357 nomination papers were filed on the penultimate day for filing of nominations for BMC polls on Monday, taking the cumulative tally to 401 so far.