Mumbai: The results of the Maharashtra municipal elections are in. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to a landslide victory in the 2026 municipal elections, wresting control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from Uddhav Thackeray.
With this, the Thackeray family’s three-decade-long dominance in the country’s wealthiest municipal body has ended. Now that the results are out, all eyes are on how and when Mumbai will get its new mayor. When will the names be announced? Let’s find out the answers to all these questions.
Political parties select candidates for the mayoral election only after a lottery process is completed. The lottery process for the mayoral election is conducted by the state government. This process will begin only after a notification is issued. The results of 29 municipal corporation elections in the state were announced on the 16th. In most of these, the Grand Alliance parties won.
Mayors of municipalities are not directly elected by the public. A special selection process is followed. The Urban Development Department issues a notification to hold a lottery for the mayoral reservation. Accordingly, a lottery is held for the mayoral position in all municipal corporations. This lottery includes categories such as open category, reserved category, and women category.
The mayoral position is selected based on the results of a lottery. Similar to Mumbai, the party or coalition with more than 114 councillors is elected mayor. Whether the position is open or reserved is determined by the lottery itself. Subsequently, applications are invited for the mayor and deputy mayor positions, and voting takes place at the Municipal Corporation building, after which the new mayor is announced.
There is speculation that the notification will be issued next week. Some leaders are privately saying that after the notification is issued, the lottery process will be conducted by the end of January. After this, the names for the mayoral position will be announced. As of now, no party has announced any candidate for the mayoral position.
Eknath Shinde stated in his speech that, if a mayor from the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is elected in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena has a clear majority in Thane. Therefore, the BJP will need the Shiv Sena to form a government in Mumbai. However, since the Shiv Sena has a clear majority in Thane, the mayor will be from the Shiv Sena. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made this indirect statement.
The mayoral election will take a few more days, and Shiv Sena holds absolute power in Thane. BJP Thane MLA Sanjay Kelkar said that if he doesn’t receive the respect he deserves, he will consider a different course of action. He added that, if time permits, he will sit on the opposition benches.
Although this tussle for the mayoral position is evident, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated in an interview before the election that the mayoral election would be decided not based on numerical strength, but after discussions with Grand Alliance allies. The race for the mayoral position has already begun, but the selection is likely to take a few more days.
Let us tell you that in the 2026 municipal elections in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory, winning 1,425 out of 2,869 seats in 29 municipal corporations.
