More than 3.48 million voters will cast their votes on Thursday (January 15, 2026) in the elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in Maharashtra, choosing 2,869 corporators from 15,908 candidates after an intense, high-profile state campaign by all six major political parties.
All eyes are on the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the country’s richest civic body, where cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have reunited after two decades. In all other cities except Mumbai, voters will cast multiple votes for the first time to elect multiple corporators for each ward under the panel system. In Mumbai, however, voters will have to cast a single vote because of the traditional one-party-one-corporation model.
The counting of votes will take place on Friday (January 16, 2026).
On Wednesday (January 14, 2026), Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare met representatives of all registered political parties and senior police officials to review poll preparedness.
“Voting was conducted in 39,092 polling stations across the state,” said a spokesman for the State Election Commission.
Out of 3.48 million voters, 1.81 million are male, 1.66 million are female and 4596 are other voters. Out of 39,092 polling stations, 3,196 were declared sensitive. Voting will take place on electronic voting devices. Out of 43,958 polling units and 87,916 polling units, 11,349 polling units and 22,698 polling units were deployed for Mumbai.
To ensure law and order, the police deployed scores of senior officers along with 11,938 constables and 42,703 home guards. A total of 57 companies of the Reserve Police Corps were deployed.
Bombay scene
In Mumbai, 1,700 candidates are in the fray for 227 wards. Voting will take place in 10,231 polling stations. A total of 64,375 government officials were deployed for the smooth running of the elections. The Congress, which has refused to join hands with the Shiv Sena (UBT), is fighting this election along with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. On the other hand, the Thackeray cousins joined hands after two decades. They have NCP(SP) support.
While Shiv Sena (UBT) is fighting for 163 seats, Raj Thackeray’s party is fighting for 53. NCP (SP) has won 11 seats. BJP is contesting 137 seats while Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena will contest 90 seats.
The biggest question in Mumbai is the swing of the Marathi vote bank and whether it will be the deciding factor for any party’s majority in the election. The Shiv Sena (UBT) foresees a voter split between the minority community and the backward communities due to the Maha Vikas Aghadi split, while the BJP fears a lower turnout in Mumbai.
As the BJP sought to win a majority of seats in the city, it sought to allay Mr. Shinde’s fears over the mayoralty, saying that numbers would not be the sole criteria for deciding Mumbai’s mayor.
High stakes battles
Major high-stakes battles will be witnessed in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nashik.
Other Municipal Corporations going to polls include Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Kalyan-Dombivali, Ulhasnagar, Solapur, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Latur, Parbhani, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Mirage-Bhayander, Mira-rajed-Bhayander, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar, Icharkaranji and Jalna.
In some of these places, unusual alliances will fight each other. In Mumbai, the BJP and Shiv Sena stayed away from their Mahayuti ally NCP, which is contesting independently.
In Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, Ajit Pawar’s NCP joined forces with Sharad Pawar’s NCP to fight the BJP. The ruling allies have been seen in a bitter war of words in the past few weeks.
In Nashik, the topic of Tapovan and tree felling forms the main voting panel. Again, the ruling Mahayutis are fighting each other here. Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena have come together against the BJP.
Published – 14 Jan 2026 23:06 IST
