The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday emerged as the single largest party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), breaking the nearly three-decade-long dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, and registered a strong victory in the Pune civic polls.
According to trends and results available so far, the BJP-led alliance is set to secure around 125 of the 227 seats in the BMC, India’s richest civic body with a budget of ₹74,427 crore for 2025-26.
Counting of votes for elections to Mumbai and 28 other municipal corporations, including Pune, was held on Friday, a day after polling recorded a turnout of 54.77 per cent.
With Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena also putting up a solid performance, the BJP is poised to take control of the cash-rich Mumbai civic body.
The high-profile BMC contest saw Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray reunite after two decades, but results indicated that the move failed to arrest the BJP’s advance.
In Pune and the neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation, the BJP surged far ahead of the alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the NCP (SP), indicating a decisive mandate in the twin cities.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis emerged as a central figure in the party’s campaign, with the BJP surpassing its previous high of 82 seats in the 2017 BMC elections.
Also read: BMC polls: BJP takes the lead in Vidarbha in initial counting
The results mark a significant shift in Mumbai’s political landscape, long regarded as a stronghold of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. According to analysts, the verdict reflected a move away from identity-driven politics towards an emphasis on development and urban infrastructure.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane said the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had received a clear mandate for its ideological pitch during the campaign.
“Jo Hindu ki baat karega wo Maharashra pe raj karenga (Those who speak for Hindu interests will rule Maharashtra.),” Rane posted on X.
Elsewhere, Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, was elected as an independent corporator to the Jalna Municipal Corporation.
In Nagpur, the home turf of Chief Minister Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, trends suggested the BJP was on course to better its 2017 tally of 108 seats in the 151-member civic body, with the Congress struggling to make major gains.
The Congress, however, secured a clear majority in the Latur Municipal Corporation, winning over 40 seats in the 70-member body and relegating the BJP to second place.
Elections to 29 municipal corporations were held on January 15 after a prolonged delay, with the terms of most bodies having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India’s most urbanised belt.
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