MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced the election schedule for 29 municipal corporations across the State.
The poll battle includes the high-stakes Asia’s largest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), neighbouring Thane and Navi Mumbai civic bodies.
These civic body polls will be 'mini State assembly elections' that will witness the intense and high-voltage campaign. Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-led MNS will play the Marathi manoos card strongly, while the BJP will play the strong Hindutva card.
The state election commissioner, Dinesh Waghmare, said that the polling for all 29 municipal corporations, including the BMC, will be held on January 15, 2026, and the counting of votes will take place on January 16.
The BMC, Thane Municipal Corporation, Nagpur and Pune Municipal Corporation elections will be politically significant for the BJP, Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
This election is also important for the Thackeray brothers — Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. It will be interesting to see whether the two Thackerays coming together will help hold the fort, or will the BJP break their bastion by winning more seats in the BMC. Therefore, this election will witness an intense battle between the BJP and Sena (UBT).
As per the SEC’s schedule, nominations will be accepted from December 23 to December 30. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on December 31, while candidates will be allowed to withdraw their nominations on January 2. The final list of contesting candidates, along with the allotment of election symbols, will be published on January 3.
In total, elections will be held for 2,869 seats across the 29 corporations. The SEC also announced the reservation break-up for these seats.
Of the total, 1,442 seats are reserved for women. Among social category reservations, 341 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 77 for Scheduled Tribes, and 759 seats for the Other Backwards Classes (OBCs).
The announcement formally sets the stage for a high-stakes urban electoral battle, particularly in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, where control over civic bodies carries significant political and financial influence.
Meanwhile, MahaYuti has already announced the alliance for BMC, while Maha Vikas Aghadi is yet to finalise the alliance. Therefore, the Congress party is against the Raj Thackeray-led MNS inclusion into the MVA with fear of antagonising the North Indian vote bank.
However, Uddhav Thackeray is adamant about Raj Thackeray’s inclusion in MVA. Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether MVA remain intact with new partners or gets split ahead of polls.