By Seekriti Saha
Maharashtra Municipal Corporation election took place on Thursday, 15th January, 2026, which was marked by clashes, cash distribution claims, allegations of bogus voting, and technical malfunctions in Electronic Voting Machines.
The Electronic Voting Machies developed glitches in some wards of, Shirgaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Kanya Vidyalaya), Nagpur, Amravati Dhule, and Akola (Pink Polling Center), an official said.
Incidents of electoral fraud was reported in Malegaon (Ward 9), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Ward 24), Pune (Ward 3 and Ward 40), Sangli, Virar, Thane (Kajuwadi), Ahilyanagar, and Pimpri Chinchwad (Golande School). Allegation of fraudulent voting was also reported in some wards of Ahilyanagar and Pune, official added.
“In Amravati, Shiv Sena candidates clashed with another group. Police intervened and removed everyone from the spot. A clash took place between BJP workers at Manvel Pada polling station in Virar, including verbal abuse directed at a voter. A scuffle was reported between Shiv Sena and BJP workers at Deolali polling station in Nashik,” the official said.
There were also clashes between BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates over money distribution allegations at Ichalkaranji . During a fight between two groups an EVM was damaged in Dhule.
Two groups had a tussle in a school in ward number 18 in Dhule.After which some pople entered the polling booth and destroyed the EVM. The poll process was hampered for more than an hours. A new EVM was installed in that place to continue the polling,” the official said.
There was a scuffle between political groups of the Eknath Shinde led by Shiv Sena and BJP. Their supporters got into a verbal fight in Akola the official informed.
There was a voter turnout of 52.94 percent in the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation election, 51 percent in Nagpur Municipal Corporation, 57.71 percent in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and 52.42 percent in Pune Municipal Corporation.
In PMC, BJP won by 122 seats, NCP bagged 20 seats, the Congress occupied 15 seats and Sharad Pawar related NCP secured only 3 seats. In Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, BJP surpassed the others and won 84 out of 128 seats securing a clear majority among all the political parties.