Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 14 : Twenty-nine municipal corporations across Maharashtra will go to the polls on Thursday as a high-voltage campaign comes to an end on Tuesday, setting the stage for a decisive political contest in key urban centres including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena are contesting the civic elections as allies under the Mahayuti banner, except in Pune, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to fight independently in most corporations.
However, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have come together under a joint manifesto.
The main political battle remains centred on Mumbai and Pune, where the BJP-led Mahayuti will face the united Thackeray camp, as just ahead of the Civic poll, both parties' Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joined hands on the issue of Marathi Manus in a high-stakes fight for control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body. The last BMC elections were held in 2017.
In Pune, in a major political realignment, both factions of the NCP came together just before the civic polls for the PMC, following a split in 2023. Ajit Pawar joined hands with Sharad Pawar again and contested againstthe NDA partner BJP in Pune, whereas Shivsena, led by Eknath Shidne opted to go solo in PMC after failing to set up an acceptable seat-sharing formula with BJP.
According to the State Election Commission, a total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39092 Polling centre has been set up across the state.
Polling will be held on January 15 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, with vote counting scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16.
The Maharashtra government has declared January 15 a public holiday in areas covered by the 29 poll-bound municipal corporations. Employers have been directed to allow their employees two to three hours to vote, and schools in all cities are to remain shut.
The civic elections this time witnessed significant political realignments in recent months after loksabha and Vidhansabha election in 2024, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has reunited with his cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray after nearly two decades in a move aimed at consolidating Marathi votes and both NCP led by Ajit Pawar decided to go with Sharad Pawar NCP to avoid division of votes in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Corporation's justification with Several other unexpected alliances and defections have also reshaped the political landscape ahead of polling.