Polls for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra are being held on Thursday (15th January). A total of 3.48 crore voters are expected to cast their votes for 15,931 candidates. The highlight among all the municipal corporations in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is said to be India’s richest civic body with an annual budget of over Rs 74, 400 crore. 1,700 candidates are contesting in the BMC for 227 seats, as the polls are being held after a four-year delay. The counting of the votes will take place on 16th January. A tough fight is expected between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the reunited Thackeray cousins.
Polling booths across the state started witnessing hustle and bustle since morning as voters began turning up to cast their votes.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Voters queue up at a polling station in Pali-Chimbai Municipal School in Mumbai to cast their votes for BMC Elections. pic.twitter.com/TqPIq3FTmM
— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2026
Voting for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in the municipal corporations commenced at 7.30 a.m. Polling will take place till 5.30 p.m. Voters of all ages were seen arriving at the polling booths to take part in the voting. Special arrangements have been made to assist elderly voters in casting their votes.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: An 83-year-old woman arrived at the polling station in Mumbai to cast her vote in the BMC elections. pic.twitter.com/QiXz3Gvqnu
— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2026
Young, enthusiastic voters were also seen arriving at the voting booths early in the morning to vote in the elections.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: After casting her vote, a Mumbaikar says, "We should all come out and cast our votes for the future of Maharashtra. I came here along with my family to cast our votes at 7:30 AM." https://t.co/hzytqBJkFQ pic.twitter.com/E9ZibZC8Th
— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2026
This is the first BMC election since the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, when Eknath Shinde, the present Deputy Chief Minister, along with a majority of MLAs, parted from the Shiv Sena and allied with the BJP.
The municipal corporations are being run by administrators due to delayed elections. In the last major elections between 2017 and 2022, the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena (before the split) dominated 15 of the 27 corporations. In 13 corporations, Pune, Nagpur, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mira-Bhayandar and Jalgaon, the BJP got a clear majority while Shiv Sena won Thane. BJP-Shiv Sena ruled jointly in the BMC. The Congress party won seats in Bhiwandi Nizampur and Nanded-Waghala, but the undivided NCP won no seats at all.
