India, Dec. 30 -- After protracted parleys over seat sharing for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, over the last few weeks, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena arrived at a consensus late Monday evening. BJP will field candidates from 137 seats while Shiv Sena will contest from 90 seats. The formula was declared jointly by both the parties after a marathon meeting between senior BJP leaders and Shiv Sena president and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.

Confirming the move, Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam said that they "are ready to wave the saffron flag on the BMC". Smaller allies, it is believed, will be given seats from both the quotas.

Despite pressure from BJP, Shinde drove a hard bargain, which r...