Elections have been announced for BMC, the country’s largest municipal corporation. Voting will be done on January 15 and counting of votes will take place on January 16. The big question is who will take over this municipal corporation dominated by Thackeray’s Shiv Sena this time? This time, along with the political scenario, the map has also changed in BMC.
There are 236 seats here, in 2017 there were 227 seats. BMC elections were to be held in the year 2022, but they were delayed due to issues related to ward delimitation and reservation. In September 2025, the Supreme Court had said that local body elections should be completed by January 31, 2026.
In the 2017 elections, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena emerged as the largest party and captured the post of Mayor in alliance with BJP. Shiv Sena had got maximum 84 seats. BJP had got 82 seats. Shiv Sena was united then under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Whereas Congress won 31 seats, NCP 9, MNS 7 and AIMIM won two seats.
This time, till the announcement of elections, there has been no announcement on the alliance formula in both the party and opposition camps. An alliance is expected with a friendly fight in the elections. BJP, Shiv Sena Shinde faction and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are definitely talking about fighting together, but there is every possibility of a friendly fight.
Angry Eknath Shinde!
In fact, during the Panchayat elections, Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde appeared quite angry with the BJP’s stance. The party said that BJP has defeated their leaders.
Such was his displeasure that he did not even attend the cabinet meeting. However, after the elections, BJP did damage control. There was a long meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shinde and after this BJP announced that we will fight the local elections together. At the same time, BJP is angry with Ajit Pawar’s NCP. NCP has given command of BMC elections to Nawab Malik, BJP is opposing it. In such a situation, the time to come will tell what will be the equation of Mahayuti in the elections.
NCP will take decision today
NCP has called a meeting on Tuesday (16 December) at 4 pm. Sources said that whether to contest the elections as a grand alliance or to consider any other option, this will be discussed in today’s meeting.
Small workers have a lot of expectations from local elections, in such a situation all the parties want to bring maximum seats to their side. The grand alliance of all three parties is currently in the Maharashtra government. At the same time, small parties like RPI are also hoping to get seats in Mahayuti.
BJP is going to start the first round of talks with constituent parties for BMC elections from today. BJP will hold talks with Shiv Sena and RPI Athawale today.
condition of opposition alliance
There is confusion about the stand of Congress due to Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) and Raj Thackeray joining MNS in the opposition. Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have come together after 20 years. Both the brothers are faced with the challenge of survival. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has reached MNS President Raj Thackeray’s house today to discuss seat sharing.
The unity of the Thackeray brothers put the Congress in a dilemma. Different voices are being raised within the party. Some believe that one should fight separately from Thackeray. At the same time, some party leaders also believe that fighting with Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS will be beneficial.
Regarding the conversation, Sanjay Raut said, “There may be a formal announcement from the Thackeray brothers this week.” As of now I don’t think Congress is with us. I had spoken to the Congress High Command, who had left the decision to the local unit. Let us tell you that Congress has called a meeting today regarding BMC elections.
The stand of Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) is awaited. The closeness between uncle and nephew has increased in recent times amidst confusion regarding Ajit Pawar in Mahayuti and Sharad Pawar in MVA. Recently, Praful Patel of Ajit Pawar group attended Sharad Pawar’s birthday party. The picture of the meeting sparked a new discussion in political circles.
In the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) had contested together. This Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance defeated Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections, however, it suffered a crushing defeat in the Assembly elections.
The last election was held on 21 February 2017 and the result was announced on 23 February. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is considered to be the largest municipal corporation in Asia. In the last budget, an expenditure of about Rs 75,000 crore was estimated for the current financial year. In such a situation, the eyes of all parties are fixed on BMC.
