Maharashtra civic elections 2026: Voting begins across 29 municipal corporations

Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Thursday morning with spotlight on Mumbai where the BJPled Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of Indias largest and richest civic bodyPolling timings seats and voter turnout detailsPolling for 2869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 730 am and will conclude at 530 pm A total of 348 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15931 candidatesHighstakes BMC elections after nineyear gapIn the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC whose annual budget is over Rs 74400 crore 1700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years after a fouryear delay More than 25000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee electionsVote counting scheduled for January 16Except for Mumbai the other urban bodies have multimember wards Vote count will take place on January 16First BMC polls after Shiv Sena splitThese are the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde now Deputy Chief Minister broke away with a majority of the partys MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief ministerShiv Senarsquos 25year dominance in BMC endsThe undivided Shiv Sena held sway over Indias richest civic body for 25 years 19972022UddhavndashRaj Thackeray reunion reshapes political equationsIn a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray who head Shiv Sena UBT and MNS respectively reunited last month after two decades in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and PimpriChinchwadCongress charts independent path in MumbaiThe Congress once a formidable political force in Maharashtra has asserted its presence in Mumbai by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena UBT and NCP SPCongress forges alliances with VBA and RSPThe grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkars Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi VBA and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state capitalCivic polls held after prolonged delays across stateElections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of several years with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023 Of these nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR the most urbanised belt in IndiaList of municipal corporations where voting is underwayVoting is underway in the following municipal corporations Mumbai Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Navi Mumbai VasaiVirar KalyanDombivli Kolhapur Nagpur Solapur Amravati Akola Nashik PimpriChinchwad Pune Ulhasnagar Thane Chandrapur Parbhani MiraBhayandar NandedWaghala Panvel BhiwandiNizampur Latur Malegaon SangliMirajKupwad Jalgaon Ahilyanagar Dhule Jalna and Ichalkaranji