Curtains fall on campaigning for 29 Maha Municipal Corporations; polling on Jan 15

Mumbai: The high-decibel election campaign for 29 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) concluded on Tuesday and the SEC has deployed specialised teams to monitor the Model Code of Conduct.

After weeks of rallies, roadshows, and intense political sparring, the state now enters a “silent period” before voters head to the polls on January 15, while counting will take place on January 16.

These elections are being viewed as a “mini-Assembly” battle, testing the pulse of the state across major urban centres including Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik, and Nagpur.

The elections in these civic bodies are scheduled for 2,869 seats and a total of 3.48 crore people will cast their votes.

As the richest civic body in India, the BMC remains the “jewel in the crown.” This year’s election follows a significant delimitation process where approximately 20-25 per cent of ward boundaries were modified to account for population shifts.

In BMC elections there are about 1,729 candidates in the fray for 227 seats. Of 1,729 candidates, 879 are women and 821 men (nearly 50 per cent reservation for women). There are 1.03 crore eligible voters in BMC.

The campaign saw the state’s major coalitions — Mahayuti (BJP, Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde, NCP-Ajit Pawar) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) (Shiv Sena-UBT, INC, NCP-Sharad Pawar) — clash over infrastructure, welfare schemes and urban redevelopment.

The Mahayuti highlighted the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme and promised further bus concessions for women, metro expansion, and Redevelopment Project.

On the other hand, Maha Vikas Aghadi’s focus centered their campaign on “protecting Mumbai’s identity,” criticising the government over the delay in polls (which were due since 2022), and promising free medicines for seniors and crime-free city initiatives.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spearheaded the campaign for the ruling alliance, crisscrossing the state to canvas for Mahayuti candidates.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also travelled extensively to campaign for the party nominees.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP, the third partner in the Mahayuti combine, was strategically excluded to attract “non-Hindu” voters, observers said.

The run-up to the elections saw the coming together of estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after 20 years, steadfast in their attempts to consolidate Marathi votes, while the two rival factions of the NCP joined hands for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Parbhani polls.

Notably, this would be the first Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election for the Shiv Sena since the 2022 split, which saw party leader Eknath Shinde leaving with a majority of the legislators, the party name and symbol. The undivided Shiv Sena ruled the country’s richest civic body for 25 years.

The Congress party has also projected a strong image this election by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) in Mumbai.

The grand old party has aligned with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha in the capital, while opting to go solo in Nagpur.

Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of more than six years after their tenure ended between 2020 and 2023.

Of these, nine are in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the state’s most urbanised belt.

The battlegrounds include Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Mumbai, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.

Telangana Minister Mohammad Azharuddin, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai were star campaigners for the polls.

Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar campaigned for their candidates across the state, while the Thackeray cousins focussed on Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where Uddhav addressed a rally.

Populist promises for women were the highlight of the manifestos of both the Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS. The Mahayuti has promised a 50 per cent concession for women in BEST bus travel, while the Thackeray cousins have assured a Rs 1,500 monthly allowance for women domestic workers and a property tax waiver on houses up to 700 square feet.

The Congress’ manifesto, on the other hand, has focussed on tackling pollution in Mumbai, improving the BEST fleet and the city’s financial position.

The Mumbai Mayor’s post dominated the campaign discourse, with the BJP alleging that the city would have a Muslim mayor if the Sena (UBT) is voted to power, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led party countered the claim with the assurance of a Marathi mayor.

CM Fadnavis also guaranteed that the mayor will be a “Hindu and Marathi”.

In the final seat-sharing tallies for Mumbai, the BJP is contesting 137 seats, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena 90, while the NCP is fighting separately on 94 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded 163 candidates, the MNS 52, the Congress 143 and the VBA 46 in the city. The Congress has fielded 1,263 candidates across the rest of the state.

To ensure transparency, the Commission is using the July 1, 2025, electoral roll. In a move to curb duplicate voting, the SEC has marked roughly 15 lakh duplicate entries across the state with a “double star” on the voters’ list for heightened verification.

IANS