India, Dec. 26 -- Despite being huddled in protracted meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, the Mahayuti partners - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena - could not finalise their seat sharing pact.

The reason behind the impasse, said people aware of developments, was Shinde's tough stand on garnering more seats than what the BJP was offering in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and a few other cities where the two parties are contesting together.

By the end of the day however, Shiv Sena general secretary Rahul Shewale said, "We have almost finalised the seat sharing pact for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). We will have a Mahayuti mayor. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde will make the f...