Maharashtra Municipal Elections 2026: Voting for the 2,869 seats across 893 wards in these municipal corporations started today at around 7.30 am. The polling will conclude at around 5.30 pm. As many as 3.48 crore voters will decide the fate of 15,931 candidates. These are the first BMC elections since 2022.
Maharashtra Municipal Elections 2026: Voting for the 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra has started on Thursday, January 15, with Mumbai in focus. In the Maximum City, the main focus is on the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which has locked horns with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of the country’s richest civic body. The BMC polls are the first elections since the major separation of the Shiv Sena in 2022, when Eknath Shinde broke away with the party’s MLAs and joined hands with the saffron party to become the chief minister of the state. What has changed in Mumbai’s first BMC election since 2017?
#WATCH | Mumbai | Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and leader Aaditya Thackeray show their inked fingers after casting their votes at a polling station in Mumbai for the BMC elections. pic.twitter.com/qe9UQ0e2Rp
— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2026
Maharashtra Municipal Elections 2026: What Has Changed In Mumbai
The ongoing BMC polls are the first since 2022, when the major split took place in Shiv Sena. Eknath Shinde had separated from the party’s MLAs and joined hands with the BJP. This alliance made his Chief Minister. Shinde is currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
In a major political turn that had rolled the eyeballs in the political lane, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray joined hands last month for the BMC polls. The reunion was held two decades ago in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes.
In a major political turn that had rolled the eyeballs in the political lane, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray joined hands last month for the BMC polls. The reunion was held two decades ago in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes.
The Congress, that dominated once dominated Maharashtra politics, has separate from Maha Vikas Aghadi allies – Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). It has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh.
Maharashtra Municipal elections 2026: India’s Richest Municipal Corporation
BMS is the richets municipality in the country has the annual budget is over Rs 74,400 crore. As many as 1,700 candidates are fighting the civic polls for 227 seats. The Mumbai Police have deployed over 25,000 police personnel across Mumbai to oversee elections.
Maharashtra Municipal elections 2026: The Election
A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes. Out of 3.48 crore voters – 1.81 crore are men, 1.66 crore are women and 4,596 are other voters. Of the 43,958 control units, 11,349 control units have been deployed for Mumbai.
The counting of votes will take place on Friday, January 16.
