Voting began on Thursday (January 15, 2026) in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, with Mumbai drawing the most attention. In the city, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is in a fierce contest with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s largest and wealthiest civic body.
Controversy arose over the use of marker ink instead of indelible ink to mark voters’ fingers. The State Election Commission clarified that it is an offense to remove these ink marks, and anyone doing so will face legal action. Marker pens have been officially used in local body elections since orders issued in November 2011.
Polling began at 7:30 a.m. and will continue until 5:30 p.m., with 3.48 crore voters eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards. While Mumbai has single-member wards, the other urban bodies feature multi-member wards. Vote counting is scheduled for January 16.
These elections mark the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in Shiv Sena, when Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde broke away with most party MLAs and allied with the BJP to form the state government.
In Mumbai, 1,700 candidates are contesting 227 seats in elections being held after a nine-year gap due to a four-year delay. Over 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across the city. Among the voters, 1.81 crore are men, 1.66 crore are women, and 4,596 identify as other genders. Of the 39,092 polling stations, 3,196 are classified as sensitive. Voting is being conducted using electronic voting machines, with 11,349 control units and 22,698 ballot units deployed in Mumbai. The BMC’s annual budget exceeds ₹74,400 crore.
