Reliable and Trusted – Live Events BJP-Led Mahayuti Set to Rule 25 of 29 Civic Bodies in Maharashtra PM Modi Thanks Voters for ‘Pro-People Governance Mandate’ — narendramodi (@narendramodi) BJP Surpasses Its 2017 BMC Performance Under Fadnavis From ‘Marathi Asmita’ to Development Politics in Mumbai BJP Dominates Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad Congress Struggles in Urban Centres, Wins Latur Corporation AIMIM Emerges as Dark Horse in Muslim-Dominated Wards Political Barbs Fly as Results Seal BJP’s Urban Breakthrough High-Stakes Alliances Fall Flat in Mumbai and Pune Polls Held After Long Gap Across Maharashtra’s Urban Belt as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Results for 2,833 of the 2,868 seats across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra were declared by midnight, with no official word from the State Election Commission on the remaining 35 seats. The outcome delivered a decisive mandate for the BJP-led alliance, signalling a major shift in the state’s urban political landscape.
The BJP emerged as the clear frontrunner with around 1,400 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (397), Congress (324), Nationalist Congress Party (160) and Shiv Sena (UBT) (153). Nowhere was the impact more pronounced than in Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti crossed the majority mark in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest civic body with a Rs 74,427 crore budget for 2025–26. Results for all 227 BMC wards were announced around midnight.
The BJP won 89 seats, while ally Shiv Sena secured 29, taking the alliance tally to 118—well past the 114-seat majority mark. The Shiv Sena (UBT) finished with 65 seats, Congress 24, AIMIM eight, MNS six, NCP three, Samajwadi Party two, and NCP (SP) just one.
Vote counting for elections held on January 15 in Mumbai and 28 other civic bodies began Friday morning and stretched late into the night. The results mark a historic political realignment, with the BJP ending the nearly three-decade dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena in the BMC.
Beyond Mumbai, the BJP-led Mahayuti also notched up emphatic wins in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, decisively outpacing rival NCP factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar, and consolidating its hold over Maharashtra’s key urban centres. Addressing party workers in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is poised to form governments in 25 of the 29 municipal corporations where elections were held on January 15.
Mumbai, India’s financial capital, went to the polls after a long delay, and the BJP-led alliance is set to cross the majority mark of 114 seats in the 227-member BMC, the country’s richest civic body with a budget of Rs 74,427 crore for 2025–26. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked voters for the emphatic mandate, calling it an endorsement of the NDA’s governance model.
“Thank you Maharashtra! The dynamic people of the state bless the NDA’s agenda of pro-people good governance,” Modi posted on X. Under Fadnavis’s leadership, the BJP surpassed its previous best tally of 82 seats in the 2017 BMC elections. Coupled with a solid showing by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP is firmly in the driver’s seat to govern Mumbai’s powerful civic body.
The victory marks a significant erosion of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s long-standing influence over the BMC. As per a PTI report, political observers see the results as a shift in Mumbai’s political narrative, from identity-based ‘Marathi asmita’ to a development-focused agenda centred on urban infrastructure and governance.
Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane said the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance received a clear mandate for its Hindutva pitch, blended with development. “Hindutva has always been our soul. One cannot separate our Hindutva from development,” Fadnavis said.
In Pune, the BJP secured a resounding victory, winning 96 seats, while the NCP managed 20 seats and the NCP (SP) won just three. In neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP bagged 84 seats, relegating the NCP to second place with 37 seats.
The NCP (SP) failed to win a single seat there. The results dealt a major blow to the Pawar-led factions, which had forged local alliances ahead of the polls. The Congress suffered a sharp decline in Mumbai, winning less than 10 per cent of the BMC seats.
However, the party scored a significant victory in Latur Municipal Corporation, securing 43 of the 70 seats, leaving the BJP at a distant second with 22 seats. In Nagpur, the home turf of Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, the BJP won 102 of the 151 seats, while the Congress managed 34. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM emerged as a surprise performer, registering notable gains in Muslim-majority wards across cities such as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Malegaon, Dhule, Amravati, Jalna and Parbhani, along with a presence in Mumbai.
Former MP Imtiaz Jaleel claimed the party was set to win around 100 seats statewide. The high-stakes BMC battle saw Uddhav and Raj Thackeray reunite after two decades, only for their hopes to be dashed by the results.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accused Deputy CM Eknath Shinde of betrayal, drawing parallels with historical figures associated with treachery. Meanwhile, BJP candidates backed by party leader K Annamalai won key seats in Mumbai, turning Raj Thackeray’s ‘rasmalai’ jibe into a talking point of the campaign.
The much-talked-about reunion of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after two decades failed to deliver electoral dividends. Similarly, the local alliance between rival NCP factions in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad fell short of expectations.
Elections were conducted across 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayandar, after a gap of several years, as terms of most civic bodies had ended between 2020 and 2023. With the BJP’s ‘Mission Mumbai’ delivering results, the party has firmly established itself as the dominant political force in Maharashtra’s urban centres, reshaping the state’s civic power structure ahead of future electoral battles.
Inputs from PTI.