By Rohini Sridharan
Maharashtra held its Municipal Corporation elections in 29 Municipal bodies. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections happened yesterday, 15th January 2026, after four long years. The polling began at 7.30 am and was scheduled to end at 5.30 pm. Overall voter turnout of the Maharashtra Municipal elections was around 46-50%, said the State Election Commissioner (SEC), Dinesh Waghmare. The BMC elections saw a voter turnout of 52.94%, as stated by the BMC.
The Municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, had 3.48 crore voters who were eligible to choose from the 15,391 candidates covering 2,869 seats across 893 seats in the state. Mumbai had 227 BMC seats for over 1,700 candidates contested. Mumbai being one of the richest municipal bodies of the country and one of the largest in Asia, has an annual budget exceeding Rs 74,400 crore.
The voter turnout of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was reported as 17.73% till 11.30am. It then went up to 29.96% as of 1.30 pm and 41.08% as of 3.30 pm, stated the BMC officials.
The BMC having one of the largest municipal budgets in the country, makes this municipal elections very critical for Maharashtra’s political landscape. This outcome will also influence all municipal activities and infrastructures such as healthcare, urban development for upcoming years.