Mumbai Mayoral Race Heats Up: Uddhav's Shiv Sena Just 6 Seats Shy of Majority

• The Mumbai mayoral race is intensely contested, with Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) faction claiming to be just 6 seats short of the 114-seat majority.
• Sanjay Raut states that UBT, along with allies MNS and Congress, currently holds 108 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
• The BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction together secured 89 out of 227 wards in the BMC elections.
• The Maharashtra Urban Development Department will hold a lottery on January 22 for the reservation of mayoral posts across 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai.
• The BMC, India's largest municipal body, has an annual budget exceeding 74,000 crores, making the mayoral post crucial for political survival in Maharashtra.

Why It Matters: Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) is strategically positioned, needing only 6 more seats to secure the Mumbai mayoral post.