India, Dec. 26 -- With municipal elections being held after a gap of nearly four years, uncertainty over ticket allocation has prompted a large number of aspirants across parties to open communication channels with rival political outfits, sources said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) both have a large pool of aspirants in Pune. Against this backdrop, several hopefuls are maintaining cordial ties with opposition parties as well. Sources said that while rebellion after denial of tickets is common in every election, the scale of such cross-party outreach is larger this time.

Most aspirants continue to see the BJP as their first preference, given its organisational strength in the ci...