Mumbai ka king kaun? BMC verdict crowns Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra's undisputed power centre

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra. (File image)

• BJP-Shiv Sena alliance leads BMC polls, BJP emerges stronger than Shiv Sena
• Fadnavis credited for BJP's dominance in Maharashtra civic and Assembly polls
• Thackerays lose control of BMC, ending decades-long dominance

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The results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections have redrawn Maharashtra’s power equations, placing the BJP and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis firmly in pole position in the state’s political pecking order. The victory also gives the party control of the country’s richest civic body, whose annual budget far exceeds that of several Indian states.

As per trends and results available at the time of filing this report, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine was leading in 127 seats and was expected to comfortably outperform the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) alliance, which was trailing at a combined 70 seats.

Within the Mahayuti, the BJP has emerged significantly stronger than before. The party, which had won 82 BMC wards in the 2017 elections, was leading or had won at least 99 seats within the alliance’s overall tally of 127.

The Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on the other hand, could secure only 28 of the 89 seats it contested. Vote counting was still underway, with final results expected by Friday evening.

A substantial part of the BJP’s performance in Maharashtra’s civic polls that enabled it to extend its dominance from the Assembly to the Mumbai civic body is being credited to the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Following the landslide Maharashtra Assembly victory in 2024, which saw the BJP emerge as the single largest party with 132 seats on its own under the Mahayuti banner, Fadnavis continued to emphasise development and administrative efficiency as the alliance’s core narrative.

The BMC outcome also comes as a major blow to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the estranged cousins who set aside decades-old differences to jointly contest the Mumbai civic polls.

For Uddhav Thackeray, the defeat marks yet another setback after the Assembly polls just over a year ago. More significantly, it signals the end of the Thackerays' long-standing dominance over the Mumbai civic body, which they had controlled for decades.

Beyond its financial heft, the BMC plays a pivotal role in shaping Mumbai’s politics and often influences the broader political trajectory of the state.

By most measures, Fadnavis has now emerged as the most influential political figure not only in Mumbai but across Maharashtra. Under his leadership, the BJP secured a historic Assembly mandate, and it is his stewardship and strategy that have delivered the party its best-ever performance in the BMC, improving on its 2017 tally of 82 seats.

The broader civic results across Maharashtra also underscored the BJP’s dominance, showing that neither a national rival like the Congress nor regional heavyweights such as the Thackerays and the Pawars could match the party’s organisational strength.

Like the Thackerays, Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar reunited with his estranged uncle Sharad Pawar in a bid to retain control over the Pune civic body, once considered a Pawar family bastion. That effort, too, fell short, with the BJP establishing a clear lead even there.

Seen as an influential Hindutva face with considerable political clout in Maharashtra and beyond, the BMC verdict further consolidates Fadnavis’s standing not just within the state, but also within the BJP's own pecking order.