Maharashtra Civic Polls 2026: BMC and 28 Local Bodies Go to Vote, Counting Jan 16
Over 3.48 crore voters cast ballots in high-stakes civic elections amid fractured alliances and shifting political equations across Maharashtra’s urban centres.
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, Jan 15: Voting began across Maharashtra on Wednesday morning for elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in one of the most politically significant civic exercises in recent years.
Polling commenced at 7.30 am and will continue until 5.30 pm, with counting of votes scheduled for January 16.
These elections will determine control over some of the state’s most powerful urban bodies including Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur at a time when political alliances remain fractured and local equations vary sharply from city to city.
According to official data, 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots, choosing from 15,931 candidates. Mumbai alone accounts for 1,729 contestants.
Originally, elections were scheduled for 2,869 seats across the 29 corporations. However, polling is being held for 2,801 seats after 68 candidates were elected unopposed.
The civic bodies going to polls include Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur, Nashik, Solapur, Amravati, Kolhapur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar and Panvel, among others. Nine of these corporations fall within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the country’s most urbanised and politically sensitive belt.
The State Election Commission (SEC) said voting is being conducted at 39,147 polling stations using 43,958 control units and 87,916 ballot units, with Mumbai alone accounting for over 10,000 polling stations.
Mumbai follows a single-member ward system, while the remaining 28 corporations use a multi-member ward structure, with most wards electing four councillors.
The elections are politically significant as this marks the first BMC polls since 2017 and the first since the split of the Shiv Sena in 2022. For over 25 years, the undivided Sena controlled the country’s richest civic body a dominance now under challenge.
The contest pits the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP against the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
While the Mahayuti focused its campaign on welfare schemes, metro expansion and urban redevelopment, the Opposition centred its pitch on protecting Mumbai’s identity, questioned delays in civic polls and promised social welfare measures such as free medicines for senior citizens.
Political alignments differed widely across regions, with parties allied in one city often contesting against each other in another, underlining the complexity of Maharashtra’s civic political landscape.
The SEC said Assembly electoral rolls updated till July 1, 2025, were used. Mobile phones have been banned inside polling booths, and special arrangements have been made for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant women and mothers with infants. Pink booths staffed entirely by women have also been set up in areas with high female voter turnout.
