Maharashtra to see big fight for 29 civic bodies on January 15

The long-awaited polls to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including cash-rich Mumbai, where elections are due since early 2022, will be held on January 15 and votes will be counted on January 16, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Monday.

As many as 2,869 seats in these municipal corporations, including 227 in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — Asia’s largest civic body with more than Rs 74,000 crore budget in 2025-26 — will be up for grabs, said the SEC.

Announcing the schedule for municipal corporation polls at a press conference here, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said more than 3.48 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in these civic bodies covering major urban centres of the state. With the announcement of the schedule, the model code of conduct has come into force in these municipal corporations.

Filing of nomination papers will begin on December 23 and the process will go on till December 30. Scrutiny of papers will be done on December 31 and January 2 will be the last date of withdrawal of nominations by candidates, Waghmare said. Symbol allocation and the final list of candidates will be published on January 3.

Polling in the 29 municipal corporations spread across Maharashtra will take place on January 15 and votes will be counted the next day. Besides the BMC, the civic bodies going to polls include corporations of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Kolhapur, Ulhasnagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Latur, Parbhani, Chandrapur, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Panvel, Mira-Bhayander, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli-Miraj- Kupwad, Jalgaon, Dhule, Ahilyanagar, Ichalkaranji and Jalna.

In September, the Supreme Court asked the SEC to conduct local body elections, including those of the municipal corporations, by January 31. Out of the 29 corporations, Ichalkaranji and Jalna civic bodies are newly created bodies. Of the remaining 27, term of five civic bodies ended in 2020 and that 18 corporations, including Mumbai, in 2022.

The term of the three civic bodies expired in 2023. Except Mumbai, the remaining civic bodies have multi-member wards where electors has to vote for three to five members in a ward. Mumbai has single-member wards. Waghmare informed that there were about 15 lakh suspected duplicate voters in these urban centres, of which 11.5 lakh are in Mumbai alone.

However, after field inspections and contacting possible duplicate voters through a software tool, the actual number is 7 per cent of the figure. These names are marked with a double star and they have been asked which polling booth they will be voting at, said the state poll panel chief.

Duplicate electors who couldn’t be contacted will be asked to file an affidavit when they come to a particular polling booth, affirming they haven’t voted elsewhere, said the senior bureaucrat.

Waghmare stated that nominations can be filed only offline and the voter lists existing as on July 1, 2025, — which has been updated ward-wise — will be used for elections. Since the electoral lists are from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the SEC has no right to delete or add names, he clarified.

He said elections to 12 Zilla Parishads, where the reservation limit is up to 50 per cent, will be announced soon, taking into consideration the apex court directives about quota. The SC had asked the SEC to conduct elections to 29 municipal corporations, 246 municipal councils, 42 town councils, 32 Zilla Parishads, and 336 Panchayat Samitis across Maharashtra by January 31.

Acting on the SC directive, the SEC conducted elections to 263 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the first phase on December 2. The remaining 24 councils and nagar panchayats (one of them saw an unopposed election of members) will vote on December 20. Counting of all votes polled (on December 2 and 20) will be taken up on December 21.

Poll schedule for Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis whose termed have expired is still to be announced.

BJP-Sena tie-up in most cities: Fadnavis

Pune: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the BJP and Shiv Sena will contest the upcoming civic polls together in most places and efforts are underway to seal seat-sharing arrangements among Mahayuti allies, including NCP, in the maximum number of corporations. He said there will be friendly contests between the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations.

After the State Election Commission announced the schedule for the much-awaited elections to 29 civic bodies, Fadnavis said the prolonged rule by administrators was against democratic principles. Polls to 29 municipal corporations, including cash-rich Mumbai, will be held on January 15 and votes will be counted on January 16.

Fadnavis said there will be an alliance among the Mahauti partners, but in most cities, the tie-up will be between the BJP and Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde.

In Pune, where the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP are big parties, an alliance is unlikely, he said.

The Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party.

“We welcome this announcement (by the SEC). It was not prudent that civic bodies were run by administrators. The urban bodies were without local representatives for a long time because of the court’s order. Now that polls will be held, we are confident that the people will give us the opportunity for the development of cities,” Fadnavis told reporters.

He said Pune and neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad will witness a friendly contest between the BJP and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

Speaking to the reporters after inaugurating the development projects valued at Rs 3,000 crore, Fadnavis expressed confidence that the Mahayuti alliance would secure a majority across municipal bodies in the state.

He said the prolonged rule by administrators was against democratic principles.

“Now that elections are being held, we are confident the Mahayuti will get a majority, considering the work done by our government. People will give us one more opportunity to work towards the development of cities,” he said.

Fadnavis said efforts were underway to finalise Mahayuti seat-sharing arrangements in as many civic bodies as possible.

“There will be a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in most places. In some areas, BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP will contest together, while in a few others, BJP and NCP may also form an alliance,” he said.

The Shiv Sena would remain part of the Mahayuti alliance almost everywhere, Fadnavis added.

“As far as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP and NCP are likely to contest against each other. “As discussed between Ajit Pawar and me, both are big parties in Pune and PCMC. BJP has carried out significant development in Pune over the last five years. Hence, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP and NCP may contest separately. It will be a friendly contest, without any bitterness,” Fadnavis said.

Referring to Nagpur and Chandrapur, Fadnavis said the reservation has breached the 50 per cent ceiling.

“The (supreme) court has allowed elections to be conducted, but the results will be subject to the final court decision,” he added.

On concerns raised by the Opposition over electoral rolls, Fadnavis said these could not be grounds for postponing elections.

“With the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process having begun, discrepancies in the rolls will be reduced. In the future, electoral rolls should be placed on blockchain to eliminate such issues,” he said, while rejecting the Opposition’s demand to defer polls, citing pending court cases.

Filing of nomination papers will begin on December 23 and the process will go on till December 30