The latest round of municipal corporation elections has underscored the Bharatiya Janata Party’s near-complete dominance of urban Maharashtra. With 1,425 corporators elected on its own, the BJP now accounts for almost half of the 2,869 corporators across the state’s municipal corporations, marking its strongest-ever performance in civic politics.
The scale of the BJP’s ascent becomes sharper when viewed over time. In the previous municipal election cycle, the party had 1,099 corporators, while two cycles ago its tally stood at just 320. This steady and significant expansion highlights how decisively the BJP has consolidated its position in cities and large towns over the past decade.
The party has secured an absolute majority in 13 of Maharashtra’s 29 municipal corporations, including Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Panvel, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nanded, Nagpur, Ichalkaranji and Jalna. It has also emerged as the single-largest party in six others — Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Amravati, Akola, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Sangli.
While the BJP had also won outright majorities in 13 corporations in the previous cycle, the latest results point to deeper and more widespread consolidation, with the party expanding into newer urban centres while strengthening its grip on established strongholds.
The roots of this dominance can be traced back to the BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha breakthrough, which reshaped Maharashtra’s urban political landscape. That election marked a decisive shift in city voting patterns, weakening traditional party loyalties and positioning the BJP as the default party of governance in urban areas. Subsequent Assembly and civic elections have reinforced this trajectory.
In contrast, the performance of rival parties highlights growing fragmentation. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has emerged as the second-largest force with 399 corporators, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has secured 155 seats. Combined, the undivided Shiv Sena had won 489 corporators in the previous cycle, indicating a decline in its overall civic footprint after the split.
The Congress, once a key player in urban local bodies, has been reduced to 324 corporators, down from 439 in the previous elections. It managed to secure an absolute majority in only one corporation — Latur — underlining its shrinking influence in Maharashtra’s cities.
A similar contraction is visible within the Nationalist Congress Party. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 169 seats, while the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) was pushed to the margins with just 36 corporators. In comparison, the undivided NCP had secured 294 seats in the earlier cycle.
Taken together, the results indicate that the BJP’s expanding dominance has come at the expense of both its political opponents and its former allies, reshaping the balance of power in Maharashtra’s urban civic landscape.
