Vote Counting Commences for Maharashtra Municipal Elections
Vote Counting Underway in Maharashtra
The counting of votes for the 29 municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, which includes the Mumbai civic body, commenced on Friday at 10 AM.
Voting took place on Thursday, with State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare estimating a voter turnout between 46% and 50%, indicating an increase compared to the 2017 elections.
Cities such as Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, and Navi Mumbai are part of the elections.
The electoral contest features six major political parties: the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and two factions each from the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). These parties formed various alliances for the municipal elections.
Exit polls suggest that the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is likely to secure victory in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, which were delayed by four years.
According to pollster Axis My India, the BJP and the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde are projected to win between 131 and 151 seats out of 227 in Mumbai. In contrast, the opposing alliance, which includes the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar), is expected to capture 58 to 68 seats.
A third alliance, consisting of Congress, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, and Rashtriya Samaj Party, is anticipated to win 12 to 16 seats, as per Axis My India.
BMC - Exit Poll – Seat Share - Vote Share (%)#BMCElections2026#ExitPoll2026#AxisMyIndia pic.twitter.com/xE535uMm3B
— Axis My India (@AxisMyIndia) January 15, 2026
Another polling agency, JVC, forecasts the BJP and Shinde Sena to win 138 seats, while the Uddhav Sena is expected to secure 59 seats and the Congress-led coalition around 23 seats.
Prior to the elections, 68 candidates from the Mahayuti coalition were elected unopposed as many opposition candidates withdrew their nominations. This included 44 from the BJP and 22 from the Shinde Sena, with two seats going to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP group.
Although these wins were significant, they did not grant the ruling alliance control over any municipal corporation. The Maharashtra State Election Commission has requested reports from municipal corporations following allegations of irregularities in the nomination process from the opposition.
The Mumbai elections are particularly important as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is recognized as India's wealthiest civic body, boasting an annual budget exceeding Rs 74,400 crore.