Maharashtra Civic Polls: High-stakes battle for Mumbai, Pune & 27 other corporations

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are contesting the civic elections as allies under the Mahayuti banner, except in Pune, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to fight independently in most corporations.

However, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have come together under a joint manifesto.

The main political battle remains centred on Mumbai and Pune, where the BJP-led Mahayuti will face the united Thackeray camp, as just ahead of the Civic poll, both parties' Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joined hands on the issue of Marathi Manus in a high-stakes fight for control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body. The last BMC elections were held in 2017.

In Pune, in a major political realignment, both factions of the NCP came together just before the civic polls for the PMC, following a split in 2023. Ajit Pawar joined hands with Sharad Pawar again and contested against the NDA partner BJP in Pune, whereas Shivsena, led by Eknath Shidne opted to go solo in PMC after failing to set up an acceptable seat-sharing formula with BJP.

According to the State Election Commission, a total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39092 Polling centre has been set up across the state.

Polling will be held on January 15 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, with vote counting scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16.

The State Election Commission announced the election programme for the general elections of 29 municipal corporations on December 15, 2025. Accordingly, voting is being held for the municipal corporations of Brihanmumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Latur, Parbhani, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar, Ichalkaranji and Jalna.

According to the State Election Commission, adequate Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been arranged for the municipal corporation elections. This includes the availability of 43,958 control units and 87,916 ballot units. For the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation alone, 11,349 control units and 22,698 ballot units have been arranged.

Except for Brihanmumbai, elections in the remaining 28 municipal corporations are being held under the multi-member ward system. In Brihanmumbai, since only one member is elected from each ward, every voter will cast only one vote. In the other 28 municipal corporations, due to the multi-member ward system, each ward will generally have four seats. In some wards of certain municipal corporations, there may be three or five seats. Accordingly, in all municipal corporation elections except Brihanmumbai, each voter is generally expected to cast four votes, while in some places voters may cast three to five votes, as per the Maharashtra Election Commission.

Dinesh Waghmare, State Election Commissioner emphasised that adequate police security arrangements have been made for the municipal corporation elections.

This includes the deployment of three Additional Superintendents of Police, 63 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 56 Police Inspectors, 858 Assistant Police Inspectors/Police Sub-Inspectors, and 11,938 police personnel. Additionally, 42,703 Home Guards have been deployed. For counting of votes and maintenance of law and order, a total of 57 companies of the State Reserve Police Force have been deployed.

"By voting in large numbers in municipal corporation elections, we should all contribute to shaping our city and actively participate in the democratic process. Your vote can decide the future of your city because it is invaluable. It is an important right in a democracy, and we must exercise it through voting. I therefore appeal to all voters to cast their vote," Waghmare said.

The Maharashtra government has declared January 15 a public holiday in areas covered by the 29 poll-bound municipal corporations. Employers have been directed to allow their employees two to three hours to vote, and schools in all cities are to remain shut.

The civic elections this time witnessed significant political realignments in recent months after Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha election in 2024.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has reunited with his cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray after nearly two decades in a move aimed at consolidating Marathi votes and both NCP led by Ajit Pawar decided to go with Sharad Pawar NCP to avoid division of votes in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Corporation's justification with several other unexpected alliances and defections have also reshaped the political landscape ahead of polling.

- ANI