Exit polls predict victory for BJP-Shinde alliance in BMC elections in Mumbai after nine years

Mumbai looks set to register a decisive victory for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, the first civic polls held in the city after a gap of nine years. Several exit polls indicate that the alliance, comprising the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is poised to secure a clear majority, edging out Thackeray’s cousins ​​combined, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), despite their joint Marathi Manoos campaign.

According to the Axis My India poll, the Mahayuti is expected to win between 131-151 seats in the 227-member civic body, while the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance is expected to get 58-68 seats. The Congress is expected to win between 12 and 16 seats. The JVC exit poll predicts 138 seats for the Mahayuti, 59 for the Thackeray alliance and 24 for the Congress. Meanwhile, exit poll results from Sakal predict a narrower victory, giving the Mahayuti 119 seats, the UBT-led alliance 75 seats and around 20 seats in Congress.

Around 1,700 candidates contested the BMC elections, which were held with a delay of four years. Voting took place from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 15, with counting of postal ballots and electronic voting machines scheduled for January 16. These were the first BMC polls since the Shiv Sena split in 2022, when Eknath Shinde parted ways with the majority of party MLAs and allied with the BJP. The Shiv Sena, an undivided party, had controlled the civic body for 25 years, from 1997 to 2022.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, India’s richest municipal body, manages an annual budget of over ₹74,400 crore, making control of the civic body a high-stakes political prize. Exit trends suggest strong voter support for Mahayuti, pointing to continuity in administration under the BJP-Shinde alliance.

Voting for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra concluded at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. According to PTI, state Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said the final turnout was likely to be between 46 and 50 percent, higher than the 2017 civic polls, and expressed satisfaction with the public participation.

As of 3:30 p.m., the turnout in the BMC area stood at around 41 per cent, with the final turnout estimated to be close to 50 per cent, the State Election Commission said.