India, Aug. 26 -- Strong differences have surfaced between Mahayuti allies, BJP and Shiv Sena, over the draft ward formation for the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections. Supporters of Navi Mumbai strongman and BJP minister Ganesh Naik have accused Sena of gerrymandering, terming the draft as "political surgery", orchestrated from Thane (Shinde's pocket borough) to dismantle Naik's decades-long influence in the satellite city. A senior BJP leader from the Naik camp alleged that certain ward boundaries were "redrawn illogically" to break up their traditional vote banks, and called it a "blatant murder of democracy executed on a map". "The boundaries have not been drawn by the Election Commission, but by political agents from Thane," he claimed. "They have used a surgeon's knife to cut out our voter base and stitch together disparate areas with no geographical or social connection." The BJP used one of the newly-formed wards as a case study to drive home the point. Ward 14, which amalgamates 14 villages was recently brought under NMMC's jurisdiction with existing pockets such as Pawane and Turbhe. The party said it "was a calculated move to dilute our established voter base in the two areas". Sena on the other hand maintained that the "process of wards' demarcation was transparent". While Naik reserved comment on the issue, people aware of developments within the party told HT, that he had conveyed to his partymen in a closed-door meeting recently about being abreast of "the game aimed at damaging the chances of our strong candidates". He told them that he will "fight a decisive battle", adding he will present details about his move to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Speaking about the unreasonable marking of boundaries, former BJP Navi Mumbai chief Ramchandra Gharat said: "I have had a consistent lead in my area of Turbhe, which has been cut up to include Sanpada, which lies on the other side of the highway. In Turbhe, five wards have been converted into four. Similar blatant violations have occurred in other wards as well." Refuting the allegations, Shinde-led Sena's Navi Mumbai chief Kishore Patkar said, "The commissioner and his team had to manage the population and include 14 villages within the existing 111 wards, adhering to Supreme Court's order. They have done a good job." He added that some of his own party's corporators have been affected by the changes. "Not everything can go according to one's wishes. We will make suggestions, but not object," he said. Meanwhile, the kerfuffle between the two parties has put Mahayuti's third alliance partner - NCP - and the Opposition MVA on alert. While Namdeo Bhagat, of the NCP, called the changes "politically motivated", M K Madhvi, a former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator said three wards his family has traditionally contested from have been splintered illogically. "Along with vote chori, now there is ward chori," he alleged. Maintaining that the process was provisional, an official from NMMC's election departmnet said: "We have published the draft and invited suggestions and objections from the public. They will be reviewed as per law before the final map is published."...