The stir in Mumbai politics has intensified before the BMC elections. Now AIMIM has presented a direct challenge in the Mankhurd-Govandi area, considered the traditional stronghold of Samajwadi Party’s senior leader Abu Azmi. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is going to hold a big election meeting in the same area at 9 pm tonight, which is being considered an important political signal for SP.

Mankhurd and Govandi areas have long been considered a strong vote bank of the Samajwadi Party. Abu Azmi has been continuously elected MLA from here. Not only this, even in the BMC elections, most of the SP councilors have been winning from this area. SP’s hold in this Muslim-dominated area has been considered strong till now.

AIMIM in aggressive mood

This time AIMIM is in a completely aggressive mood regarding BMC elections. The party is trying to create a strong share in Muslim votes. Owaisi’s meeting is being considered a part of this strategy, where he can directly talk about local issues and representation.

Increased concern for SP

According to political experts, this meeting of Owaisi is in danger of denting the vote bank of SP. If AIMIM succeeds in effectively attracting Muslim voters here, then it may cause direct loss to SP. This is the reason why Abu Azmi and the SP leadership are keeping a close eye on this development.

Competition will increase in BMC elections

The contest in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections seems to be getting more interesting. In areas like Mankhurd-Govandi, a direct fight between SP vs AIMIM can change the electoral mathematics. In the coming days, it will be important to see how much of a challenge Owaisi’s entry poses for SP.

Elections for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra are to be held on January 15. But even before the elections, BJP candidates have won unopposed at some places. Even before the start of voting in Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections in Thane district, two women candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won unopposed. According to officials, Rekha Choudhary, who was a councilor for more than a decade, was declared victorious from Ward No. 18 (Kachore) and Asawari Kedar Navre was declared victorious unopposed from Ward No. 26 (A).

BJP state unit president Ravindra Chavan termed this victory as the “highest civilian honour” received by the public. He said, “This is a mark of solving problems at the grassroots level in Kachore for ten years and standing with every citizen. People expressed their views by remaining silent.”

Unopposed victory gives message of confidence – Devendra Fadnavis

Asawari Kedar Navare is a new face in municipal politics, but his family has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since the beginning. Chavan informed about this victory to Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis through video call. On this, Fadnavis said, “Victory is victory, but unopposed victory gives the message of confidence. May this energy take us forward towards better welfare-Dombivli.” Elections to 29 municipal corporations, including KDMC, across the state will be held on January 15 and the counting of votes will be done the next day.

A total of 2,516 nominations filed for BMC elections

A total of 2,516 nominations have been filed for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, out of which 2,122 nominations were submitted on the last day itself. Officials gave this information on Wednesday. Officials said that the BMC elections of 227 wards will be held on January 15 and the counting of votes will be done the next day. The process of filing nominations started on 23 December and ended on 30 December. According to officials, the scrutiny of nomination papers started at 11 am on Wednesday, while candidates can withdraw their candidature till 3 pm on January 2.

Out of the total 2,516 nomination papers filed with 23 election officers of the city, ‘M-East’ ward received the maximum of 183 nominations. This ward includes areas like Govandi, Deonar, Chembur, Trombay, Mankhurd and Anik. Local officials said a little more than 400 nominations had been filed till December 29, while last-minute negotiations over seat sharing between parties resulted in 2,122 candidates submitting their nomination papers on the last day. He said that till December 30, a total of 11,391 nomination forms had been distributed.

So far 5 BJP candidates have won unopposed in Maharashtra.

• In Kalyan Municipal Corporation, two BJP candidates Rekha Choudhary and Asavari Navghare won unopposed.
• BJP’s Nitin Patil was elected councilor from Ward No. 18 (B) without opposition in Panvel Municipal Corporation.
• BJP’s account opened in Dhule also. Ujwal Bhosle won unopposed.
• Another BJP candidate from Kalyan-Dombivli, Ranjana Penkar, was elected unopposed from ward number 26.

Amidst the ongoing political turmoil in Mumbai, Shiv Sena Uddhav faction leader and MP Sanjay Raut launched a scathing attack on Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP. Describing Shinde faction as “Amit Shah’s Shiv Sena”, he said that the real Shiv Sena is the one which is led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Raut said in clear words that whether it is Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections or Maharashtra Assembly elections, his party contests on its own and does not beg in front of anyone. The political atmosphere in Mumbai seems to be heating up before the upcoming BMC elections.

Real Shiv Sena claim and direct attack on BJP

Sanjay Raut said that the real identity and supremacy of Shiv Sena lies with his party and he does not come under any pressure. He has used abusive language while targeting Shinde group. This statement of Raut is being considered very aggressive in political circles. He also reiterated that Shiv Sena never depended on external forces and will contest elections on its own principles in future also.

Sanjay Raut’s reaction on the demise of former Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Sanjay Raut gave a very brief response to the question related to the death of the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He said that what will he say on this subject and there will be mourning in that country. Raut maintained distance from making any kind of political comment on this issue.

Only slogan of Jai Maharashtra will do – Sanjay Raut

Raut also raised questions on BJP making Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and other big leaders as star campaigners for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections. He said that what is the need for Modi ji to come in this election, is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra not capable? Raut alleged that efforts are being made to spoil the atmosphere by bringing Yogi Adityanath and Chief Ministers of other states. He said that if someone says that only the slogan of Jai Shri Ram will work in Mumbai, then he believes that only the slogan of Jai Maharashtra will work in Mumbai.

Congress Party has released the second list of 52 candidates for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections 2025–26. Open, OBC, SC and women reservation category candidates from various wards have been included in this list.

Let us tell you that Congress has not formed an alliance with Mahavikas Aghadi’s party Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar for the BMC elections. Rather, this time Congress has announced an alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.

According to the second list, these are the names of Congress candidates

According to this list, Pradeep Ramakant Choubey from Ward No. 03 Maghathane, Ratnaprabha D. Junnarkar and Sadanand B. from Ward 08 and 09 Dahisar. Chavan, Bina Ramkubar Singh from Ward 31 Charkop, Meena Dubey, Madhu Brijesh Singh and Rahul Ugle from Ward 37, 39 and 41 Dindoshi have been fielded. Swati Eknath, Samita Nitin Sawant, Siddiqui Shabana Bano and Priyanka Manish Mishra have been given tickets from Ward 52, 74, 78 and 79 of Jogeshwari East.

Congress has nominated Suryakant Mishra from Ward 58 of Goregaon, Gladys Shrier and Sufiyan Haider from Ward 60 and 65 of Versova, Gayatri Gupta, Imran Khalil Sheikh and Nitin Salgare from Ward 72, 75 and 86 of Andheri East. Pramod Narvekar, Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Iqbal Qureshi, Sharad Dinkar Shejawal and Supriya Santosh Pathak have got tickets from Ward 87, 92, 93 and 94 of Bandra East and Gauri Chhabria, Sunita Suresh Vevekar, Karen Demello and Reshma Zakaria have got tickets from Ward 97, 99, 100 and 101 of Bandra West.

Apart from this, Manisha Santosh Sonawane from Ward 103 of Mulund, Ajay Patel and Shreya Rakesh Shetty from Ward 109 and 112 of Bhandup, Khushboo Rajesh Gupta from Ward 120 of Vikhroli, Nasir Khan from Ward 126 of Ghatkopar West and Vaishali Phalke from Ward 133 of Ghatkopar East have been fielded. Shaikh Farzana Reddy Vasha and Sufiyan Abdul Mubeen from Ward 143 and 145 of Anushaktinagar, Ganesh Awasthi and Sangeeta Subhash Bhalerao from Ward 149 and 151 of Kurla, Prahlad Vishwanath Shetty, Mohammad Imran Abul Hasan Khan, Khan Mohd. from Ward 159, 161, 162 and 163 of Chandivali. Aamir Arif and Jain Sonu Shailesh have been made candidates.

According to the list, Ghanshyam Bhapkar from Ward 166 of Kalina, Smita Shankar Mhatre and Kamlesh Ramdular Yadav (Pappu Yadav) from Ward 180 and 181 of Sion Koliwada, Mariammal Muturamalingam and Ayesha Aslam Khan from Ward 188 and 187 of Dharavi, Dayashankar Ramgopal Yadav from Ward 190 of Mahim, Ward of Wadala Suresh Kale from Ward 200, Apoorva Pravin Salistekar from Ward 205 of Shivadi, Khan Mohammad Waqar Nisar Ahmed from Ward 211 of Byculla and Rajshree Mahesh Bhatankar and Gyanraj Yashwant Nikam from Ward 216 and 223 of Mumbadevi have been declared Congress candidates.

It is said that on January 15, votes will be cast for the elections of a total of 29 Municipal Corporations of Maharashtra, but more than the elections of these 29 Municipal Corporations, there is more discussion about the elections of only one Municipal Corporation. And that is BMC i.e. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. And like every time, this time too this BMC election is in the headlines like the Lok Sabha or state assembly elections.

Be it the unification of the Thackeray brothers after almost 20 years or the first elections being held amid the changed equations in Maharashtra politics, everyone’s eyes are on it. And everyone means everyone, from the leaders sitting at the top to the workers, from the big businessmen of the country to every special and common man, because the reason is not just the election but the stake in this election, in which there is money, power and also an attempt to establish the balance of political power in Maharashtra, in which every political party of Maharashtra is playing its own stake. Every party in Maharashtra has made BMC elections a matter of concern.

To understand the importance of BMC elections, first of all you have to understand BMC itself. The people of Maharashtra must be well aware of the money spent on BMC elections and the power they get from it, but those who are not from Maharashtra will have to understand BMC.

What is the budget of BMC?

Understand this that the budget for BMC elections is more than the total annual budget of many states of the country like Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. The annual budget for 2025-26 presented by BMC in February 2025 was Rs 74,427 crore. How much this money is, can be estimated from the fact that in this budget, a state like Himachal Pradesh can run its work for one and a half years, because its annual budget is only about Rs 58 thousand crores.

A state like Goa can run its expenses for two and a half years with this money, because Goa’s budget is also around Rs 28 thousand crores. That means, who wouldn’t try to get the budget of more than Rs 74 thousand crores? Rest, this is also the Municipal Corporation, which also saves about Rs 3 thousand crore to Rs 4 thousand crore every year and by saving, BMC has got a surplus of about Rs 84 thousand crore in its account. This is the reason why BMC becomes an arena for every political party of Maharashtra during elections.

Who wins BMC rules Mumbai?

Now secondly, victory in BMC does not only mean getting the power of expenditure of Rs 74 thousand crores or the surplus of Rs 84 thousand crores, but also a power with which the winner rules Mumbai. And what gives it this power is the Municipal Corporation Act 1888. This Act says that whatever work related to development will be done in the country’s financial capital Mumbai, only BMC will give permission for it.

That is, if you want to build a new building in Mumbai, get its map passed or get a street-road-drain-pavement constructed, permission will have to be taken from BMC for everything. Now since Mumbai is the most expensive sector of India in terms of real estate, then who would not want to take control of it? And whoever owns BMC will also have control over it.

BMC also a political force!

Rest, BMC also has a political strength, which cannot be ignored. BMC means Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. So this includes both Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban. If we look at the expansion of BMC from the assembly point of view, there are a total of 36 assemblies in it. If we look at it from the Lok Sabha point of view, a total of 6 Lok Sabha seats come under the purview of BMC alone. Now BJP led Mahayuti is leading in the Assembly and has 22 out of 36 seats. While Mahavikas Aghadi had got lead in the Lok Sabha, it has a total of 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.

That means BMC has money, power and political influence, so victory in BMC means achieving these three important things. Therefore, whether it is about the parties of Maharashtra like both Shiv Sena, both NCP and MNS or about the two national parties i.e. BJP and Congress, everyone wants maximum seats in BMC in any case. Now, how many seats are there in BMC, how many seats does it mean to win BMC, what post does one get after winning BMC and what has been the history of BMC till now, let us try to understand that also, from which the future of BMC can also be seen.

How many seats in BMC?

So the total seats in BMC are 227. Whichever party wins 114 seats, becomes its own mayor, who takes all the decisions. But these decisions are not made by the mayor alone. Rather, the decision is taken by the Municipal Commissioner who is an IAS rank officer. Let us understand this BMC in a little more detail.

From the point of view of administration, BMC is divided into a total of seven zones. There are three to five wards in each zone. There are total 24 wards in Mumbai. These are divided into English alphabets from A to T. Of these, F, G, H, K, M and P have two wards each. Somewhere North-South and somewhere East-West. There are three wards in R. And why there is no ward. There are civic electoral wards in every ward. In simple language you can call them something like assembly. Their total number is 227.

Just as the person who wins the Legislative Assembly is called an MLA, similarly the person who wins the Civic Electoral Wards is called a Corporator. Just as the MLAs choose one of their own as the leader of the legislative party and he becomes the Chief Minister, similarly the corporators choose one of their own as the Mayor, who is the head of the BMC and is considered the first citizen of Mumbai.

The whole fight is for BMC Mayor?

And the whole fight is about this first citizen i.e. the Mayor. Because even though Bala Saheb’s Shiv Sena came to power in Maharashtra about 29 years after its formation i.e. on 19 June 1966, Shiv Sena had captured BMC within five years of its formation. Shiv Sena leader Hemchandra Gupte was the first Shiv Sainik who became the Mayor of Mumbai in 1971. And after that, except for a few years, the mayor of Mumbai has been more or less a Shiv Sainik.

Shiv Sena’s influence in BMC can also be understood from the fact that even when there was emergency in the entire country and Indira Gandhi was the supreme power of the country, Manohar Joshi, who was a Shiv Sainik in the 1976 BMC elections, became the mayor of BMC. From 1996 to 2022, Shiv Sena has been in control of this BMC, whether it is with BJP or against BJP. But BMC belongs to Shiv Sainiks only.

What will Shiv Sena (UBT) and Shiv Sena (Shinde) do now in BMC?

But of those Shiv Sainiks who were Bala Saheb’s Shiv Sainiks. Now Bala Saheb’s Shiv Sainiks have broken into two parts. That means Shiv Sena itself has broken into two parts. Some of Bala Saheb’s Shiv Sainiks are with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena while some Shiv Sainiks are with Bala Saheb’s son Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. In such a situation, the whole fight is about which Shiv Sainiks will win in the elections that are going to be held. And BJP is most interested in this, which despite first being a partner in power in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena and then forming its own power, has not been able to get any mayor of its own in BMC. There was a time when it seemed that BJP would capture BMC. In 2017, there was a difference of only three seats in the victory of BJP and Shiv Sena. BJP had won 81 seats and Shiv Sena 84. The Chief Minister was also BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, so it seemed that BJP would make the mayor. But even then Shiv Sena made its mayor.

But now Shiv Sena has broken in the changed circumstances. A faction of Shiv Sena i.e. Shinde faction is with BJP. Whereas isolated Uddhav Thackeray has got the support of his brother Raj Thackeray, because both need each other. Raj Thackeray, who left Shiv Sena due to political ambitions and family turmoil and formed MNS, has yet to decide that if Shiv Sena wins in BMC, then it should not be of Shinde’s Shiv Sena but of Uddhav’s Shiv Sena, even if Raj has to make some sacrifices for it, because the issue is to save the family’s legacy. At the same time, BJP has a chance to snatch BMC from weakened Uddhav, for which it will not only try hard, but if it has to make some sacrifices, then like in 2017, it will also make sacrifices, but for Shinde… not for anyone else.

What is Raj Thackeray’s role in BMC elections?

Because at present not only Uddhav is weak but Raj Thackeray is also weak. After the breakup of Shiv Sena, two big elections came before Uddhav. Lok Sabha and Assembly. When Uddhav contested the Lok Sabha elections under the banner of Mahavikas Aghadi formed by combining Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and his Shiv Sena, he contested on 21 seats, out of which he won 9 seats. There are also 6 seats whose area of ​​expansion is the same as that of BMC. According to this, Uddhav looks strong in this BMC election, but as soon as you look at the assembly elections, Uddhav’s weakness comes to the fore.

Uddhav had also contested the assembly elections under the banner of Mahavikas Aghadi. Uddhav got 95 seats to contest in the 288-seat assembly, out of which he won only 20 seats. Of these, 10 seats are those which come under the purview of BMC. Now as far as Raj Thackeray is concerned, Raj Thackeray did not even contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections because he had to support BJP.

There are so many deceptions in the path of politics that…

But when Raj Thackeray’s account was not opened even in the Assembly, he understood that if he remained united then he would be safe, because his son Amit Thackeray, who made his electoral debut in this election, also lost the election. And not only lost, but also reached third place. Even before this, when Raj Thackeray had tried his hand in BMC after separating from Shiv Sena, he had reached 27 seats only once in 2012, whereas in the last BMC elections of 2017, he could not even cross the double digit and was reduced to 7 seats.

In such a situation, understanding the urgency of the situation, both the brothers have joined hands so that somehow after losing everything, they can at least get hold of BMC. Therefore, they are moving slowly, cautiously, but there are so many deceptions in the path of politics that it cannot be said when and where and how. Because there are other players in this game, who may or may not play to win, they will definitely play to spoil the game. Whose game will be made and whose game will be ruined will be decided on 16 January 2026. Because the results will come the next day after voting on January 15.

Sharad Pawar has suffered the biggest setback before the BMC elections. NCP Sharad Pawar faction’s Mumbai president Rakhi Jadhav has joined BJP today (Monday, December 29). He has met local BJP MLA Parag Shah. After this Rakhi Jadhav went to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his Varsha Bungalow.

For the past several days, the issue was being discussed as to whom Sharad Pawar’s NCP will support in Mumbai. Sharad Pawar had two options. One is Uddhav Thackeray and the other is Congress. However, in the meantime, BJP, playing a big gamble, took Sharad Pawar’s Mumbai President to its side. Due to this, Sharad Pawar’s party has got a big shock before the BMC elections.

Rakhi Jadhav was angry about seat distribution

Rakhi Jadhav has joined BJP in the presence of MLA Parag Shah. When there was a rift between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, Rakhi Jadhav supported Sharad Pawar. However, later there was resentment among them regarding the distribution of seats. Due to this Rakhi left Sharad Pawar.

It is being told that Rakhi Jadhav had given a list of 52 possible candidates to Sharad Pawar. He believed that NCP-SP would get at least 30 seats in the alliance. However, this did not happen. Rakhi Jadhav had expressed displeasure over the fact that senior leaders did not try to get more seats.

Now what will be Rakhi Jadhav’s next step?

If sources are to be believed, BJP may give ticket to Rakhi Jadhav from Ghatkopar. However, it is also believed that BJP workers can revolt in whichever ward Rakhi Jadhav gets the ticket from. This means that before the BMC elections, BJP’s own workers may get angry with this move.

The nomination papers of jailed local criminal Bandu Andekar for the municipal elections in Pune remain incomplete. He was brought under police security for nomination on Saturday (27 December), but the form was not accepted due to lack of complete documents. Now on Monday 29th December, an attempt will be made once again to complete this process.

Let us tell you that the special MCOCA court of Pune had given conditional permission to Bandu Andekar that he can file nomination for the municipal elections. Following this order, on December 27, he was brought from Yerwada Central Jail to the designated government center at Bhawani Peth in a police van. During this time his face was covered with a black cloth and both his hands were tied with a rope. While being taken inside the centre, Andekar also raised slogans in his support – ‘Good work is Andekar’s name, vote for Andekar means vote for development’.

Election officials’ decision and legal aspect

According to election officials, the nomination paper submitted by Bandu Andekar was incomplete, hence it could not be accepted immediately. Officials clarified that the process was not considered complete due to non-submission of required documents.

Andekar’s lawyer Mithun Chavan said that the nomination has been filed, but some formal documents are still pending. According to PTI, to fulfill these, Andekar will have to complete the nomination process again on December 29. According to Chavan, Andekar wants to contest elections as an independent candidate from Bhawani Peth ward office.

Other family nominations and electoral background

Andekar’s sister-in-law Lakshmi Andekar and daughter-in-law Sonali Andekar have also filed their nomination papers after the court’s permission. Both of them are also accused in the case related to the murder of Ayush. Ayush was shot dead in Nana Peth area on September 5. He was the son of Ganesh Komkar, who is an accused in the murder case of Vanraj Andekar, a former councilor of the Nationalist Congress Party and son of Bandu Andekar. Voting for the elections of 28 other metropolitan municipalities of Maharashtra including Pune is to be held on January 15, hence this matter has become a topic of discussion at both political and administrative levels.

Ajit Pawar’s party NCP has released the first list of candidates for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The party has announced the names of 37 candidates in this. Let us tell you that in this election, on one hand, Shiv Sena and BJP are contesting together, while on the other hand, Ajit Pawar’s party is contesting separately.

In the list of 37 candidates released by NCP for BMC elections, Manish Dubey has been given ticket from Ward No. 3. Vilas Dagdu Ghule has been made the candidate from Ward 40. Cyril Peter D’Souza has been given ticket from Ward 48. Ajay Dutta Vichare has been made the candidate from Ward 57.

To whom did NCP give ticket from which ward?

Apart from this, NCP of Ajit Pawar faction has fielded Ahmed Khan from Ward 62. Hadiya Faisal Qureshi has been made the candidate from Ward 64. Baban Ramchandra Madane has got the ticket from Ward 76. Mamta Dharmendra Thakur has been given a chance from Ward 77. Subhash Janardan Patade has been made the candidate from Ward 86. Apart from this, tickets have been given to Yusuf Abubakar Memon from Ward 92, Dr. Sachin Tambe from Ward 93, Amit Ankush Patil from Ward 95, Ayesha Shams Khan from Ward 96, Dhananjay (Dada) Pisal from Ward 111.

Along with this, Sajju Malik from Ward 109, Pratiksha Raju Ghuge from Ward 126, Shobha Ratnakar Jadhav from Ward 113, Nagaratna Sandeep Bankar from Ward 139, Harishchandra Babaling Jangam from Ward 125, Chandni Ajay Srivastava from Ward 142, Akshay Mohan Pawar from Ward 135, Dilip Harishchandra from Ward 144. Patil, Jyoti Devidas Sadawaten from Ward 140, Ankita Sandeep Dravey from Ward 147, Ku. Rachna Ravindra Gavas, NCP has made Laxman Shrirang Gaikwad its candidate from Ward 152.

When will the elections be held for BMC?

NCP’s Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare had said on Saturday (December 27) that meetings are going on with everyone for the last three days and all the information regarding this has been informed to Ajit Pawar. The party can contest elections on approximately 100 seats. Elections are to be held on a total of 227 seats in BMC. Elections for 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra including Mumbai’s BMC will be held on January 15. The results will be declared on January 16.

In Maharashtra, where big/main parties are engaged in talks for the Municipal Corporation elections, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has released the first list. The party has announced candidates for 21 wards of Mumbai. Releasing the list of candidates, the party said that as per the instructions of Maharashtra State President Abu Asim Azmi, the first list of candidates contesting from Samajwadi Party in the upcoming Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections has been released today (26 December).

Giving more information on this subject, Chief General Secretary of Samajwadi Party, Meraj Siddiqui said that the party will contest the elections with full strength in all the wards of Mumbai and very soon the list of other candidates will also be declared.

list of candidates

1.Ward 20 – Mohammad Azharuddin Siddiqui

2.Ward 64 – Dr. Sheela Akhilesh Yadav

3.Ward 90 – Sana Abbas Qureshi

4.Ward 96 – Subhash Shaikh Shabbir

5.Ward 134 – Poet Shahbaz Khan Azmi

6.Ward 135 – Shahbaz Sabir Shaikh

7.Ward 136 – Rubaba Nazeen Siddiqui

8.Ward 137 – Ahad Yunus Qureshi

9.Ward 140 – Appati Vidyasagar Dawar

10.Ward 141 – Zayed Imranullah Qureshi

11.Ward 142 – Jyoti Laxman Gude

12.Ward 143 – Ayesha Rahmatullah Sardar

13.Ward 148 – Sakshi Sunilkumar Yadav

14.Ward 174 – Dr. Arama Thakur

15.Ward 181 – Mohammad Adil Mumtaz Shaikh

16.Ward 188 – Ghaus Mohiuddin Latif Khan

17.Ward 201 – Irfan Sajid Ahmed Siddiqui

18.Ward 212 – Amreen Shahzad Abdullah

19.Ward 213 – Dominic Malik

20.Ward 220 – Ghulam Makhdoori

21.Ward 224 – Rukhsana Zafar Tikamwala

Samajwadi Party going alone in BMC elections!

Samajwadi Party is part of the ‘India’ block. Mahavikas Aghadi under India Block in Maharashtra includes Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s party NCP (SP). Despite this, Samajwadi Party is adopting the strategy of running alone in the BMC elections. Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit president Abu Azmi had recently announced that SP alone will contest Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections on about 150 seats. Earlier, Samajwadi Party had also contested the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections alone, in which the party had won 2 out of 9 assembly seats.

When will BMC elections?

There is a competition among political parties to gain power over the 227-member BMC. The countdown for the elections of 29 municipal corporations including BMC in Maharashtra has started. Voting will take place on 15 January 2026 while the results will be declared on 16 January.

The seat sharing formula of Mahayuti is now considered almost fixed. There was a detailed discussion on finalizing the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in a marathon meeting between Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP State President Ravindra Chavan at Shinde’s residence in Thane that lasted for about five hours.

This meeting started late in the night and continued till 4 in the morning, in which there were indications of agreement on coordination of seats in various municipalities of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) including Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli. The alliance has now reached the final stage and an official announcement is likely to be made soon.

Who attended the meeting?

Shiv Sena MP Dr. Shrikant Shinde, MP Naresh Mhaske and General Secretary Rahul Shewale were also present in the meeting. According to sources, in the next two days, discussions will be held at the local level regarding division (ward) level candidates, so that the names can be decided keeping in mind the ground equations. During this, the leadership, achievements and efficiency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were also discussed in detail, where the leaders present shared their personal experiences with PM Modi and emphasized on strengthening the alliance.

Devendra Fadnavis and Ravindra Chavan’s pair is finding love!

Bharatiya Janata Party has once again proved itself to be the number-1 party in the Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections of Maharashtra. BJP has achieved historic success in these elections on the basis of development-oriented politics of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and strong organizational ability, precise strategy and effective leadership of BJP State President Ravindra Chavan.

These results of local self-rule organizations have further strengthened the credibility of the “Devendra-Ravindra” duo, which has been held in high regard for a long time among Maharashtra BJP workers. The slogan echoed during the election campaign “Tumchi Aamchi BJP Sarvanchi” (Your-Our BJP, Everyone’s BJP) has been realized by the public in the form of votes. State President Ravindra Chavan said this while talking to journalists after the results.

Ravindra Chavan is playing an important role!

Ravindra Chavan, after assuming the responsibility of state president six months ago, ran a disciplined, restrained and aggressive public relations campaign across Maharashtra. During this period, the organization was strengthened by including many senior leaders in BJP. These elections were considered to be the real test of the leadership of Ravindra Chavan, who had a strong hold in the Konkan region, in which he proved successful by getting full marks.

In these elections, in many parts of the state, BJP was in direct competition with Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction). Despite this, due to the political acumen of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and organizational ability of Ravindra Chavan, BJP won many important places. Besides, both the leaders did the math very well to ensure that the balance of power is maintained in the Grand Alliance.

The discussion has also intensified in the political circles that through these results, BJP has given a message of its political status to the leaders of the second row of allies. These election results have also given a new dimension to the ongoing speculations regarding the relationship between Shrikant Shinde and Ravindra Chavan.

Now all eyes are on the municipal elections to be held in January, especially the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It is believed that if the Devendra-Ravindra duo moves forward with a similar strategy, then BJP’s dominance can continue in the coming municipal elections also. In such a situation, it will be very important politically to see with what strategy the allies of Mahayuti enter the field.