Union Minister Ramdas Athawale's Republican Party of India (RPI-A) will contest 38-39 seats independently in the upcoming BMC polls, breaking away from the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Athawale expressed "betrayal of trust," stating his party was ignored in seat-sharing discussions and offered an insufficient number of seats. Despite this, the RPI-A will continue to support the Mahayuti alliance in other constituencies. The BJP and Shiv Sena have agreed to contest 137 and 90 seats respectively.