BMC elections 2026: Vote counting underway across 227 wards in Mumbai

Counting of votes for more than 200 wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC began at 10 am on Friday The elections for Indiarsquos richest civic body were held after a gap of eight years with Mumbai set to elect 227 corporators who will go on to choose the cityrsquos new mayor2017 results and past political equationsIn the 2017 BMC elections the undivided Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party by winning 84 seats out of 227 At that time it was in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP which secured 82 seats taking the alliance past the halfway mark of 114 seatsBMC Election Results 2026 LIVE Wardwise and Partywise Counting UpdatesPerformance of Congress and NCP in last pollsThe undivided Nationalist Congress Party NCP had won nine seats while the Congress secured 31 seats in the 2017 pollsVoter turnout stands at 5294 per centAccording to data released by the State Election Commissioner SEC on Friday the recently concluded BMC elections recorded a voter turnout of 5294 per centThe elections were marred by allegations raised by the Shiv Sena UBTndashMaharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS alliance which were subsequently refuted by the SECMumbai set to get new mayor after four yearsThe previous BMC elections were held in 2017 while the term of the last elected mayor Kishori Pednekar ended in March 2022 With the completion of polling Mumbai is set to get a new mayor after nearly four yearsAs per official data the highest voter turnout was recorded in Ward 114 at 6553 per cent while the lowest turnout was reported in Ward 227 at 2088 per centGenderwise voter participation detailsOut of a total of 10344315 voters on the electoral roll 5476043 exercised their franchise In terms of voter participation approximately 37 lakh more men voted compared to women A total of 2923433 men 2552359 women and 251 transgender voters cast their votes across the 227 wardsExit polls predict Mahayuti edgeExit polls have predicted a victory for the BJPndashShiv Sena alliance with the Thackeray brothersrsquo alliance finishing second while the Congress and its allies are projected to trailAxis My India seat and voteshare projectionsAccording to Axis My Indiarsquos predictions the BJPndashShiv Sena alliance is likely to win between 131 and 151 seats while the Shiv Sena UBTndashMNSndashNCP SP alliance may secure 58ndash68 seats The CongressndashVBAndashRSP alliance is projected to win 12ndash16 seats while others may bag 6ndash12 seatsMajority mark and alternative exit poll estimatesThe BMC elections were held for 227 seats and an alliance or party requires 114 seats to secure a simple majority Axis My India also released voteshare projections forecasting a combined 42 per cent vote share for the Mahayuti alliesDV Research offers contrasting projectionsMeanwhile DV Research projected that the BJPndashShiv Sena alliance could win between 107 and 122 seats the Thackeray brothersrsquo alliance 68ndash83 seats the Congressled alliance 18ndash25 seats and others 8ndash15 seats