<h2>The numbers that decide power</h2>
<p>&gt;&gt; Total BMC seats: 227<br />&gt;&gt; Majority mark: 114</p>
<h2>Seat split:</h2>
<p><strong>Mahayuti alliance:</strong><br />&gt;&gt; BJP: 137 seats<br />&gt;&gt; Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena: 90 seats</p>
<p><strong>Opposition bloc:</strong><br />&gt;&gt; Shiv Sena (UBT): 163 seats<br />&gt;&gt; Congress: 143 seats<br />&gt;&gt; MNS: 53 seats<br />&gt;&gt; Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP: 11 seats</p>
<h2>How we got here</h2>
<p>For nearly two decades before 2017, the undivided Shiv Sena and BJP jointly ran Mumbai&rsquo;s civic body.</p>
<p><strong>In the 2017 BMC elections, the allies split and fought separately.</strong><br />&gt;&gt; Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party with 84 seats<br />&gt;&gt; BJP followed closely with 82 seats</p>
<p><strong>The fractured verdict led to political instability.</strong><br />The last BMC polls were held in 2017.<br />The elected council&rsquo;s term ended in 2022, after which the civic body has remained under administrative rule.</p>
<h2>The 2026 battleground</h2>
<p>The long-delayed <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/photo/in-photos-bmc-election-2026-voting-begins-in-mumbai-citizens-queue-up-from-dawn-109166/10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">2026 BMC elections</a> are being seen as one of Mumbai&rsquo;s most politically charged civic contests.<br />On one side is Devendra Fadnavis&rsquo;s Mahayuti alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its partners.<br />On the other is the combined force of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by the Thackeray cousins.</p>
<h2>War of words</h2>
<p>Fadnavis dismissed the Uddhav-Raj tie-up as an &ldquo;alliance of corruption and confusion.&rdquo;<br />He said the BMC election was a battle for the political survival of the Thackeray cousins, not a fight for the Marathi people.<br />According to him, the polls were not about any threat to Mumbai or Marathi identity, but about leaders who had relied on linguistic pride while failing to deliver.<br />He added that no one can separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, and asserted that the city will have a Marathi Mahayuti mayor.</p>
<h2>City&rsquo;s changing voter profile</h2>
<p>&gt;&gt; Mumbai population: 1.4 crore<br />&gt;&gt; Eligible voters: 1 crore<br />&gt;&gt; Non-Marathi residents: 50&#37</p>
<h2>Political representation:</h2>
<p>&gt;&gt; Mahayuti MLAs in Mumbai: 22<br />&gt;&gt; Total Mumbai MLAs: 36<br />&gt;&gt; Non-Marathi MLAs: 13<br />&gt;&gt; Non-Marathi BJP MLAs: 7</p>
<h2>2017 BMC snapshot:</h2>
<p>&gt;&gt; Non-Marathi corporators: 72 of 227<br />&gt;&gt; Half of them were elected on BJP tickets</p>
<h2>What the manifesto promises</h2>
<p>Fadnavis highlighted large-scale redevelopment and infrastructure push, including:</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; Affordable housing for Marathi residents<br />&gt;&gt; Dharavi redevelopment and rehabilitation<br />&gt;&gt; Expansion of <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/bmc-election-2026-straight-contest-between-bjp-shinde-sena-and-thackeray-sena-mns-on-32-seats-in-mumbai-23610127" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Mumbai&rsquo;s metro network</a> to 437 km in five years<br />&gt;&gt; Integration of metro, suburban rail, roads, and BEST buses into one transport system<br />&gt;&gt; Improved waste management and air quality measures</p>

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The numbers that decide power

Seat split:

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