Mumbai , Dec 22: The ruling Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Sunday registered a sweeping victory in the 2025 Maharashtra local body elections, winning 207 of the 288 posts of presidents of municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the state.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was restricted to just 44 posts, according to figures released by the State Election Commission.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party, securing 117 municipal president posts, while its allies Shiv Sena and NCP won 53 and 37 posts respectively. Among the opposition parties, the Congress won 28 posts, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) seven, and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) nine.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said around 129 municipal council chairpersons were elected from the BJP alone, adding that the Mahayuti accounted for nearly 75 per cent of all city council chairpersons. He also said more than 3,300 BJP candidates were elected as corporators.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the results, saying they reflected the people’s faith in the alliance’s agenda. “The results reflect the people’s trust in our vision of people-centric development,” he said in a post on X.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the victory was “the people’s blessing on the vision of the NDA governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, led by Modi ji.”
Fadnavis said the alliance had fulfilled the confidence reposed in it by voters. “For the first time, I did not criticise any leader or party. I only explained my plans. It paid off. The people approved it,” he said.
Polling for 288 urban local bodies — 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats — was held in two phases on December 2 and December 20. Voter turnout stood at 67.3 per cent in the first phase and 47.04 per cent in the second. A total of about 1.07 crore voters, including over 53 lakh women, cast their ballots at more than 13,355 polling stations.
Some local body president posts were uncontested, including those in Dondaicha municipal council in Dhule, Angar Nagar Panchayat in Solapur and Jammer municipal council.
The elections also witnessed “friendly fights” in several areas, with Mahayuti partners contesting against each other, while the broader contest saw the BJP-led alliance taking on the MVA.
Opposition parties alleged irregularities and misuse of power. Maharashtra Congress president Harsh Vardhan Sapkal accused the Election Commission of “facilitating” the Mahayuti’s victory and warned BJP allies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar that the party’s dominance was a “wake-up call” for them. Senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve alleged the ruling alliance benefited from “muscle and money power”.
Meanwhile, political activity intensified ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders indicating that an alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) could be announced within the next two to three days. Sena (UBT) leaders also downplayed the Congress’ prospects in Mumbai, citing its repeated defeats in civic elections.
