Breaking nearly three decades of Shiv Sena dominance, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections and secured a decisive victory in Pune, where it outperformed the alliance of NCP factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar.
The BJP-led alliance is set to surpass the 114-seat majority mark in the 227-member BMC, which is India's richest civic body, whose budget for 2025-26 is a whopping Rs 74,427 crore.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is set to come to power in 25 of the 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, where elections were held on January 15, Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis said, addressing jubilant party workers in south Mumbai in the evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the voters over the emphatic victory of BJP and allies in the civic polls. "Thank you Maharashtra! The dynamic people of the state bless the NDA's agenda of pro-people good governance," Modi posted on X.
Counting of votes was held on Friday, a day after the polling saw a 54.77 per cent turnout.
The State Election Commission is yet to release an official statement on all the results.
In a post on X, Modi extended gratitude to the people across Maharashtra as Mahayuti marches towards victory in the state's civic polls.
"Thank you Maharashtra! The dynamic people of the state bless the NDA’s agenda of pro-people good governance!" he posted on X.
"The results of various municipal corporation elections indicate that NDA’s bond with the people of Maharashtra has further deepened. Our track record and vision for development have struck a chord. My gratitude to the people across Maharashtra. This is a vote to add momentum to progress and celebrate the glorious culture the state is associated with."
The BJP on Friday set to seize power in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) for the fourth time in a row, helped by its strong organisation and influence of top leaders Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari and Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
As the counting was underway, the saffron party claimed that it had won 97 of the 151 seats and was leading in another 10 seats.
The party has remained unassailable in Nagpur, home to the headquarters of its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, since 2007.
While the BJP contested 143 seats this time, its ally, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena contested eight. The Congress contested all 151 seats on its own.
In the last NMC elections, the saffron party had won 108 seats.
A sour insult turned into a sweet victory for BJP candidates that party leader K Annamalai campaigned for in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, as they swept their wards on Friday, giving a befitting reply to MNS chief Raj Thackeray's 'rasmalai' jibe against the Tamil Nadu politician.
BJP's Tejinder Singh Tiwana and Yogesh Varma won from ward 47 and 35 respectively in Malad West, while Dakshata Kavthankar secured a win from ward 19 in Charkop, according to results released by the BMC.
Tiwana, the president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha's Mumbai unit, shared the organisation's social media post with a picture of 'rasmalai' saying, "Results win in Mumbai, noise doesn't.Thank you, Mumbai."
Annamalai had canvassed for these candidates during his visit to Mumbai, holding public meetings and interacting with local voters in the respective wards.
During the campaign, the former Tamil Nadu leader had triggered a controversy after he described Mumbai as an "international city", remarking that it was "not a Maharashtra city", and drew sharp reactions from political opponents.
Responding to the statement, MNS chief Thackeray mocked Annamalai by referring to him as "rasmalai", invoking a controversial slogan associated with the Shiv Sena's early political campaigns.
Despite the online trolling and political jibes, the BJP candidates backed by Annamalai went on to secure victories in their respective wards.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said people voted for the BJP-led Mahayuti in polls to 29 municipal corporations in the state as they wanted honesty and development.
The Mahayuti is set to attain power in 25 out of 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, he said at a celebratory rally here.
"BJP offered a developmental agenda. We put it before the people and they responded positively. We have received a record-breaking mandate in many municipal corporations and it underscores that people want honesty and development. That is why people voted for the BJP," Fadnavis said.
The Mahayuti has broken all records in the civic polls, he added.
"The verdict reflects the trust of the people of Maharashtra in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies pursued by the BJP-led alliance," Fadnavis said, while adding that he humbly remembers Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray amid the win.
Balasaheb's blessings have helped Mahayuti secure victory, the CM said.
"Our agenda will always be development and we will use our victory to transform the lives of people. Hindutva has always been our soul and one can not differentiate our Hindutva from development. Our Hindutva is inclusive," Fadnavis added.
The Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra (ISLAM) party has emerged as the single largest outfit in Malegaon Municipal Corporation in Nashik district, trends and civic poll results showed on Friday.
It has won 35 out of 84 seats in the civic body, while the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) was in second place with 21 seats.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has got 18 seats, followed by five for the Samajwadi Party and three for the Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has been able to win just two seats in the Muslim-dominated powerloom town.
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine emerged as the dominant force in the 131-member Thane civic body, winning 50 seats in the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, while the counting of votes is underway.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has won 33 electoral wards, and the BJP has won 17, as per official data. Notably, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has won five of the 15 seats it contested. The party had two corporators in the TMC in the previous elections.
The Shiv Sena contested 79 seats and the BJP 38 in the January 15 elections. Mahayuti ally NCP, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had contested separately. It has won seven seats so far, according to data shared by officials.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) managed to secure eight seats out of 40 contested spots, as per trends, while its allies, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), and the Congress are staring at a rout.
The Sena (UBT) managed to secure just a single seat out of 64 it had contested, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, headed by Raj Thackeray, failed to open its account, as per the data available until evening.
Other parties, including the AAP and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), have also failed to register any wins in the results declared to date.
Only one independent candidate has managed to emerge victorious out of 174 who entered the fray.
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition MVA, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the BJP in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
The underwhelming performance of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress has dealt a severe blow to the MVA, exposing deep organizational weaknesses and raising questions about the Opposition bloc's ability to challenge the BJP-led ruling dispensation in Maharashtra.
Political observers pointed out that internal contradictions within the MVA, ideological differences between Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), personality clashes, and lack of coordinated strategy have undermined the alliance's effectiveness in the polls.
For years, the BMC was considered an invincible stronghold of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. However, the success of the BJP’s 'Mission Mumbai' has firmly established the party as the dominant political force in the financial capital, marking a significant shift in the city’s power structure.
The BJP’s victory signals a move away from the traditional identity-based politics of 'Marathi asmita' towards a mandate centred on development ('vikas') and urban infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Congress recorded a new low, expected to win just 15 of the 227 seats — 16 fewer than the 31 seats it secured in 2017 — highlighting a collapse of its urban base.
Ahead of the elections, Congress chose not to form an alliance with its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), contesting 152 seats on its own. The party left the remaining seats to allies, including the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), and Republican Party of India (Gavai faction).
Trends on Friday suggested that the alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA, RSP, and RPI (Gavai) did little to boost Congress’s performance, with analysts calling it a strategic misstep rather than a vote-multiplier.
More alarming for the Congress is the apparent shift in its core constituency. Preliminary data suggests a significant fragmentation of the Muslim and Dalit votes. AIMIM, Samajwadi party and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar cut into the Congress's traditional support base.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has lost the BMC elections in a high-voltage contest against the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance. However, numbers suggest that he remains very much in Mumbai’s political landscape.
Marathi manoos backed Uddhav over Shinde, but his alliance with brother Raj Thackeray, whose past tirades against North Indians and Muslims, backfired and cost him broader support.
The BJP has surged ahead of the NCP-NCP (SP) combine, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar, in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad corporations, according to trends and results of the civic elections so far on Friday.
The BJP has won 29 electoral wards and is leading in 43 others in Pune, as per the data shared by the election department of the civic body.
The Nationalist Congress Party and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) are a distant second, winning three and two seats, respectively, so far, in the 165-member Pune civic body. The trends show the NCP is leading in seven wards, and the NCP (SP) in one ward.
In the 128-member Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body, the BJP is leading in 81 seats, while the NCP is ahead in 36.
Despite being an ally of the BJP in the ruling Mahayuti, the NCP contested civic elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with the NCP (SP), two years after the bitter break-up.
The Congress has won three seats and is leading in nine in PMC, as per the data. The Shiv Sena (UBT), which contested the polls in alliance with the Congress, yet to open its account, similar to Shiv Sena, headed by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, which contested the elections without allying with BJP.
The BJP had single-handedly held power in the previous five-year terms from 2017 to 2022 in Pune and PCMC civic bodies, after which the Administrator had control of the civic body.
The Congress won elections to the Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC) in central Maharashtra, bagging a clear majority with 43 seats in the 70-member body, leaving the BJP a distant second with 22 seats.
Congress secured 43 seats, followed by the BJP (22), Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (4) and the Nationalist Congress Party (1), according to officials.
Local political observers believe Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan's controversial remarks on Congress stalwart and late Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who hailed from Latur, days before polling consolidated votes in favour of the Grand Old Party.
Addressing BJP workers at a poll campaign rally here, Chavan said memories of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, a two-time CM and a popular politician from the Marathwada region, would be "wiped out" from his hometown Latur.
Chavan's remarks, for which he later apologised, had drawn sharp criticism from citizens and political parties across the state.
Voting for the LMC was held on Thursday and counting was completed on Friday afternoon.
In the last LMC polls in 2017, the BJP won 36 seats with the Congress coming a close second with victory in 33 wards.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis added another feather to his cap as he put the BJP on course for victory in the BMC elections and wins across other civic bodies in the state.
Under his leadership, the BJP is set to win several municipal corporation elections, including the BMC, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, Jalgaon, and Kalyan-Dombivli, among others.
With the BJP poised to take control of Asia’s richest civic body, the result has strengthened Fadnavis’ political standing, placing him in discussions as a potential prime ministerial face for the saffron party.
The BMC sweep is a major boost for BJP and Fadnavis.
In Jalna, which became Maharashtra's 29th municipal corporation in 2023, former Congress leader and ex-MLA Kailas Gorantyal's switch to the BJP appears to have helped the latter.
Of the 65 seats in the Jalna civic body, the BJP was leading in 19 seats, while the Congress, which has an MP from the area, was ahead in three seats.
In the run-up to the elections, state BJP chief Ravindra Chavan had sparked a controversy after he said that the memories of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister, would be "wiped out" from his hometown Latur. He later apologised for his statement.
Meanwhile, Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, won the Municipal Corporation election in Jalna as an independent candidate.
In Parbhani Municipal Corporation, Sena (UBT) was leading in 23 of the 65 seats in the civic body, followed by Congress in 8 seats.
In Nanded, the BJP was leading in 20 of the 81 seats, while Shiv Sena was ahead in five. The Congress was leading in 12 seats, according to early trends reported by television channels.
The BJP was leading in the elections to the municipal corporations of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, and Nanded in Maharashtra's Marathwada, while the Congress dominated the Latur civic body in the region, according to early trends.
Of the 115 seats in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, BJP candidates were ahead in 22, followed by Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in 19 seats, as per the trends reported by Marathi channels. There was no official confirmation from the State Election Commission.
Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) was leading in ten seats, while Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's NCP was ahead in two seats. Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis E Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had taken the lead in 14 seats here.
Of the 70 seats in Latur, the Congress was surging ahead in 30 seats, followed by the BJP in 17, according to TV reports.
Independent candidates were ahead in five seats.
The BJP was leading on 84 seats, while the Congress was ahead on 41 in polls to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) where counting is underway since Friday morning, officials said.
Polling for the 151-member civic body was held on Thursday along with 28 other municipal corporations in Maharashtra.
Four candidates of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are also leading in Nagpur, where a four-member panel system is in place. Under the system, each panel consisted of four wards.
The AIMIM candidates who are leading are Alisha Khan, Reshma Nandgawli, Sofia Sheikh and Pawan Koye. They are ahead of their rivals in Ward No.3 in Asinagar zone, which has a significant Muslim population.
The AIMIM contested on 6 seats in Nagpur, where party chief and Lok Sabha MP Assuddin Owaisi addressed a rally during campaigning.
The BJP contested on 143 seats and it's ally Shiv Sena on eight.
The Congress fielded candidates on all 151 seats.
In the last NMC elections, the BJP won 108 seats followed by the Congress (28), BSP (10), undivided Shiv Sena (2) and united NCP (1).
Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, won the Municipal Corporation election in Jalna as an independent candidate.
The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena were leading in the high-stakes Mumbai civic elections, according to early trends from 210 of the city’s 227 wards, as vote counting began on Friday morning.
There was no official confirmation from the State Election Commission, but trends showed the BJP ahead in 92 wards, while the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was leading in 26. On current trends, the ruling Mahayuti alliance is set to cross the majority mark of 114 needed to take control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
In Thane, a stronghold of Shinde, his Shiv Sena faction was leading in 18 of the city’s 131 wards, ahead of its ally BJP, which was leading in 10, according to television reports.
In Mumbai, the reunited Thackeray cousins were trailing the ruling alliance. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) was ahead in 60 wards, while Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was leading in nine.
Elsewhere, the Congress and its ally, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, had won control of the Latur Municipal Corporation.
The BJP also emerged strongly in Pune, leading in 43 wards, with the Congress on seven, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on five and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) on three.
In neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad, the BJP was leading in 70 wards, while the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was ahead in 40. The two parties contested the elections independently in both Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.
Exit polls had earlier predicted a sweeping victory for the ruling Mahayuti alliance in elections to 29 municipal corporations held on Thursday.
The BJP has surged ahead of the NCP-NCP (SP) alliance, led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar, in the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporations.
As per the latest trends, the BJP is leading in 43 of 165 civic wards in Pune, followed by Congress, which is ahead in 7 seats, the NCP in 5, and the NCP (SP) in 3.
In the 128-member Pimpri Chinchwad civic body, the BJP is leading in 70 electoral seats and the NCP is ahead in 40 wards.
In BMC polls, the BJP is leading in 89 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) with 71 and Shiv Sena (Shinde) with 29. The Congress has secured leads in seven seats, and the MNS is ahead in six seats.
Celebrations at Shiv Sena Bhavan, Mumbai, as party workers celebrate, with the BJP–Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti appearing to lead across municipal corporations while civic polls counting continues.
The BJP-led alliance is leading in 106 wards with BJP leading in 80 wards alone and Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in 26 wards. Shiv Sena(UBT) is leading in 60 wards, while Congress is leading in 5 wards.
The BJP is leading in the municipal corporation polls in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, which includes Nagpur, Chandrapur, Akola and Amravati.
Of the 151 seats in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, the BJP was leading in 74, followed by Congress in 22 and Shiv Sena (UBT) in 2, as per early trends. Nagpur is home to big leaders like Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
The BJP took the lead in 35 of the 80 seats in the Akola civic body, while the Congress candidates were ahead in 15 seats. Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was leading in 8 seats, followed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s NCP in seven electoral wards.
Congress’ Maha Vikas Aghadi partners NCP (SP), headed by Sharad Pawar, and Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray were leading in four and three seats, respectively.
In the Amravati Municipal Corporation, which has 87 electoral wards, the BJP was leading in 13, the NCP in seven and Congress in five. The Yuva Swabhiman Party of MLA Ravi Rana was leading in two seats.
In Navi Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) is leading in only two seats, while BJP is maintaining lead in more than 70 seats and Shinde- Sena in 28 seats.
The BJP is leading in 74 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) with 58 and Shiv Sena (Shinde) with 25. The Congress has secured leads in five seats, while the MNS is ahead in five seats.
The much-touted reunion between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar has failed to make an impact in their traditional strongholds of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, with the BJP emerging as the clear front-runner in the civic polls.
According to latest trends, the BJP is leading in 52 wards in Pune. In contrast, the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar is ahead in just five wards, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP is leading in two.
The Congress is leading in five wards and is contesting in alliance with the Thackeray camp, which has failed to secure a lead in any ward so far.
In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP continues its strong performance, leading in 70 wards. The two NCP factions combined are ahead in around 40 wards, underscoring the limited electoral impact of the Pawar reunion in the twin civic bodies.
In Jalgaon’s 75-seat municipal election, early trends show BJP leading on 42 seats, Shiv Sena 22, NCP 1, while Congress, NCP (SP), Sena (UBT), and others have none.
With the counting of votes still underway in municipal corporations in Maharashtra, BJP's Pratap Dattatray Patil has claimed victory in the Kolhapur civic body. “I am a believer of development. So, people elected me. This is my second term...I express gratitude to them, I will meet their expectations and work for them,” Patil told news agency ANI
BMC have confirmed that Asha Deepak Kale from Congress has been declared as winner in Dharavi’s Ward number 183. Kale won by a margin of 1,450 votes. She received a total of 5406 votes. The second highest votes were procured by Vaishali Shevale of Shiv Sena (Shinde).
As per BMC data from the EVMs and postal ballots counted so far, the BJP is leading in eight seats, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) with six and Shiv Sena (Shinde) with five. The Congress has secured early leads in three seats, while the MNS and AIMIM are ahead in two seats each.
NOTA has registered a lead in one seat.
In early trends, BJP is leading with 39 seats, Shiv Sena in 3 and Congress in 16 in Nagpur and others were yet to register any leads.
The BJP-led alliance is ahead in 55 wards in the BMC, according to early leads. The BJP has an edge in 42, while Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena is ahead in 13 wards. The Thackeray cousins are behind with an edge in 31 wards in their attempt to retain control of the cash-rich civic body.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Election Commission of “vote chori”, calling it an anti-national act and alleging that the poll body is undermining public faith in democracy.
He said the Election Commission was “gaslighting citizens,” adding that such actions have led to a collapse of trust in India’s democratic institutions.
Mumbai has recorded 52.94 per cent polling down from 55.53 per cent in the last elections in 2017, BMC said.
According to data released by the civic body, ward number 114 in suburban Bhandup recorded the highest turnout at 64.53 per cent, while ward number 227 in south Mumbai's Colaba area reported the lowest turnout at 20.88 per cent.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission has yet not released the official poll percentage of polling held in 29 Municipal Corporations on Thursday.
Counting for elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra began on Friday, with a keen focus on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti faces a prestige contest against the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India’s richest civic body.
The Couting of votes for the Maharashtra municipal corporation elections begun on Friday. The polling concluded on Thursday evening across 29 civic bodies in the state. Several exit poll results have hinted at a big win for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.