Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 2 (ANI): Ahead of the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Amit Thackeray made a slew of promises, including building houses for residents on BMC lands and starting new medical colleges.

Polling for 29 municipal corporation elections across the state, including Mumbai, Pune, and Pimpri-Chinchwad, will be held on January 15, with vote counting scheduled for January 16.

Aditya Thackeray and Amit Thackeray on Friday interacted with their alliance candidates at Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said if elected, the alliance will start junior colleges in municipal schools, Marathi language will be compulsory in all board schools and a BMC junior college will be started after 10th grade.

'Instead of handing over BMC lands to private developers, we will use them for Mumbaikars. We will build homes for Mumbaikars on this land... We will reduce ticket prices and implement a flat rate of Rs 5-10 or Rs 15-20. We will maintain 10,000 electric buses in the BEST fleet. We will restart old routes. We will restart the 'wave your hand and the bus will stop' service. There are 4 medical colleges in Mumbai... We want to bring 5 new medical colleges to Mumbai... We want to start a Mumbai Municipal Corporation ambulance service,' he said.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Amit Thackeray said if elected, the alliance will provide one lakh affordable homes to Mumbaikars.

'Congratulations to all of you, and thank you for your cooperation. Nobody broke into our office. Nobody swallowed the AB form. This is loyalty. You have shown this loyalty,' the MNS leader said.

'We want to start another cancer hospital in Mumbai. It will facilitate early detection... and we want to start this hospital of international standards because I know how much trouble is faced in the initial stages,' he added. (ANI)