Maharashtra civic polls live: BJP wins 1,425 seats, Shiv Sena bags 399 as Mahayuti sweeps elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the dominant force in Maharashtra’s civic polls, winning 1,425 of the 2,869 seats across 29 municipal corporations, according to final and late-night data released by the State Election Commission.

As of 10:30 pm, official figures showed the BJP had secured 1,372 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena with 394 seats. The Congress finished third with 315 seats, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) won 149 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured 167 seats.

In the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP won 89 seats, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena secured 29. The result ended nearly three decades of dominance by the undivided Shiv Sena led by the Thackeray family. The BJP’s strong showing in Mumbai, along with its alliance partner, places the Mahayuti firmly in control of India’s richest civic body.

The BJP also registered a decisive victory in Pune, defeating the combined challenge of the NCP factions led by Sharad Pawar and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The Mahayuti alliance is set to form administrations in 25 of the 29 municipal corporations, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said while addressing party workers in south Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked voters for the mandate, saying the results reflected public support for the NDA’s “pro-people good governance.” Posting on X, he said, “The dynamic people of Maharashtra have blessed our agenda.”

Polling across the 29 municipal corporations recorded a turnout of 54.77 per cent. Counting began at 10 am and saw minor delays due to technical issues, officials said.

The high-stakes BMC contest featured the reunion of Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj after two decades. While they failed to reclaim control of Mumbai’s civic body, their alliance avoided a complete rout.

In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP surged far ahead of its rivals, consolidating its position as the dominant political force in the state’s urban centres. The party’s “Mission Mumbai” campaign has firmly established it as a key player in the financial capital, long considered a Shiv Sena stronghold.

Among other notable outcomes, AIMIM emerged as a dark horse with gains in Muslim-majority wards across the state. The Congress, which contested in alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, won control of Latur. Independent candidate Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, won a corporator’s seat in Jalna.

Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane said the BJP-Shiv Sena performance reflected voter endorsement of their Hindutva pitch, while Fadnavis said the party’s ideology and development agenda were inseparable.