BMC polls: Shiv Sena confident of winning elections, says Manohar Joshi

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Feb.22 (ANI): The Shiv Sena on Thursday expressed confidence of victory in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. "I believe that my party will win the elections by a good margin," Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi told ANI. Meanwhile, Joshi also ruled out the possibility of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray coming together. "Both the brothers Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray can't come together," he said. The local body polls will be witnessing a close competition between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, Congress, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Samajwadi Party (SP). However, the Shiv Sena is hopeful of retaining power in the country's richest civic body. An official of the poll body said that Mumbai recorded 55.53 per cent polling, highest in the last 25 years and 10 per cent higher than 2012. Polling for 227 seats of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai concluded on Tuesday where a total of 17,331 candidates were in the fray for 3,210 seats in 10 municipal corporations. The civic body polls witnessed voters from political, Bollywood and sports fraternity. The average voting in the Maharashtra municipal polls held on Tuesday was 56.40 per cent, against 48.59 per cent for the same in 2012. The Shiv Sena had won 75 of the 227 seats last time, with the BJP winning 31, the Congress 52 and the NCP 13.(ANI)