3 independent corporators declare support to Shiv Sena taking its tally to 87

"The BJP used all that it had for the BMC polls. But, despite the BJP getting 82 seats, the Mayor will be from Shiv Sena only," the Sena proclaimed. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: After finishing neck-to-neck with BJP in a tussle to control India's richest and biggest civic body, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, the Shiv Sena on Friday received a shot in the arm with three independent corporators declaring support for the party, taking its tally to 87. On Thursday, while the Shiv Sena emerged on the top with 84 seats, the BJP was a close second at 82. The Congress, expecting to fare much better, came a poor third with 31 seats. Live Updates:

• Shiv Sena's tally reaches 87. Any party or combine requires 114 corporators for a simple majority in the 227-member BMC house.
• The situation now is that both parties (BJP and Shiv Sena)  have no option but to come together again: Nitin Gadkari
• Another independent corporator Changez Multani declares support to Shiv Sena
• 2 independent corporators Snehal More from Vikhroli & Tulsidas Shinde from Dindoshi joined Shiv Sena at Matoshree.

Unfazed by the BJP breaching its citadel of Mumbai by winning 82 seats in the BMC polls, the Shiv Sena on Friday asserted that the civic body's mayor will be from their party and accused its estranged ally of using deceitful means to destabilise them. Indicating its unwillingness towards a post-poll alliance with BJP in the country's richest civic body, the Sena said its fight with the saffron party will continue and it will keep walking on the difficult path, whatever be the consequences. The BJP yesterday scored a resounding victory in the Maharashtra civil polls emerging as the largest party in eight of the 10 municipal corporations while finishing a close second to bellicose ally Shiv Sena, which won 84 seats, in the latter's Mumbai bastion. A day after the verdict, the Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' claimed that BJP used the entire state machinery and all its might of Central leadership to secure unprecedented results in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other local body polls. "The Sena has been ruling the BMC from the last 25 years. They (the BJP) used deceitful means to destabilise our rule. This has never happened before when the Congress ruled the state," it charged. "The BJP used all that it had for the BMC polls. But, despite the BJP getting 82 seats, the Mayor will be from Shiv Sena only," the Sena proclaimed.