Maharashtra Civic Polls: High-Stakes Battle for Key Urban Centres
Twenty-nine municipal corporations across Maharashtra will go to the polls today as a high-voltage campaign comes to an end, setting the stage for a decisive political contest in key urban centres including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are contesting the civic elections as allies under the Mahayuti banner, except in Pune, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to fight independently in most corporations. However, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have come together under a joint manifesto.
The main political battle remains centred on Mumbai and Pune, where the BJP-led Mahayuti will face the united Thackeray camp. Just ahead of the Civic poll, both Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joined hands on the issue of Marathi Manus in a high-stakes fight for control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body. The last BMC elections were held in 2017.
In Pune, in a major political realignment, both factions of the NCP came together just before the civic polls for the PMC, following a split in 2023. Ajit Pawar joined hands with Sharad Pawar again and contested against the NDA partner BJP in Pune, whereas Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shidne, opted to go solo in PMC after failing to set up an acceptable seat-sharing formula with BJP.
According to the State Election Commission, a total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39,092 polling centres have been set up across the state. Polling will be held on January 15 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, with vote counting scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16.
The State Election Commission announced the election programme for the general elections of 29 municipal corporations on December 15, 2025. Accordingly, voting is being held for the municipal corporations of Brihanmumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Latur, Parbhani, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar, Ichalkaranji, and Jalna.
The civic elections this time witnessed significant political realignments in recent months after the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in 2024. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has reunited with his cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray after nearly two decades, aimed at consolidating Marathi votes. Both NCP factions, led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, decided to go together to avoid the division of votes in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Corporation. Several other unexpected alliances and defections have also reshaped the political landscape ahead of polling.
