Mumbai: The BJP-led alliance appeared set for a sweeping win in Maharashtra’s civic elections on Thursday, with early trends showing the Thackeray family losing its long-held control over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the country’s richest civic body, after 25 years.
With counting underway across 29 municipal corporations, the alliance led by the **Bharatiya Janata Party** was ahead in 116 wards in Mumbai’s 227-member BMC. Of these, the BJP was leading in 88 wards, while the **Shiv Sena** headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was ahead in 28.
The Thackeray cousins trailed behind, collectively leading in 82 wards. The **Shiv Sena (UBT)** was ahead in 74 wards, while **Maharashtra Navnirman Sena** was leading in eight, pointing to a weakened bid to retain the civic body they once dominated.
The BMC, which has an annual budget exceeding Rs 74,400 crore, went to the polls after a nine-year gap and a four-year delay. About 1,700 candidates contested the 227 seats. In the previous election held in 2017, the then-united Shiv Sena had comfortably retained control of Mumbai’s civic administration.
Across Maharashtra, overall trends also favored the BJP-led alliance. Early figures showed the BJP ahead in 1,212 wards statewide, while Shinde’s Shiv Sena was leading in 305. The **Indian National Congress** stood third with leads in 240 wards, driven largely by gains in Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Nagpur and Kolhapur. Shiv Sena (UBT) followed with 139 leads, while the **Nationalist Congress Party** was ahead in 127.
Pune emerged as another closely watched contest, where rival factions of the NCP — led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle, Rajya Sabha member **Sharad Pawar** — contested together. Even there, the BJP surged ahead, leading in 80 seats, while the combined NCP factions were ahead in nine, including six for Ajit Pawar’s group and three for the Sharad Pawar-led faction.
Polling for 2,869 seats across 893 wards in the 29 municipal corporations was held on Thursday. Officials reported a voter turnout of 52.94 percent to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates, including 1,700 in Mumbai alone.
Besides Mumbai and Pune, counting is underway in civic bodies across the state, including Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.
