BMC results redraw Mumbai’s pecking order: Fadnavis on top, Uddhav lives to fight another day, Shinde slips
While Raj Thackeray’s MNS appears to have marginally improved its tally, showing it still has some pockets of influence in the city, the Congress tally fell sharply.
Control of the country’s richest municipal corporation plays a major role in shaping Mumbai’s politics and often influences the direction of state politics as well. The early trends of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections have brought an end to the political uncertainty that began in Maharashtra after the 2019 Assembly elections. The results on Friday provide a clear picture of who has gained and who has lost after years of party splits, new alliances, and leadership disputes. After initial setbacks, BJP leader and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as the top leader in not just Mumbai but across Maharashtra.
Control of the country’s richest municipal corporation plays a major role in shaping Mumbai’s politics and often influences the direction of state politics as well. For some political leaders, the results have strengthened their position and shown that their strategy worked. For others, the verdict has exposed weaknesses and raised questions about their connection with voters in Mumbai.
Here are the biggest winners and losers following the BMC verdict and what it means for Maharashtra’s key political players.
Biggest winners
Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP’s strongest showing in Mumbai
The Chief Minister has emerged as the biggest winner in Mumbai. The BJP has touched a historic high in the BMC, bettering its earlier best performance of 82 seats in 2017. The improved showing reflects careful planning and sustained ward-level work led closely by Fadnavis, who took a keen interest in shaping the party’s strategy for the civic polls.
Fadnavis focused on choosing candidates with strong local presence and keeping the campaign centred on civic issues such as roads, sanitation, and infrastructure. This helped the BJP attract voters from areas where the Shiv Sena’s base had weakened after the split. The results show that voters responded positively to a party that appeared stable, organised, and capable of running the city.
Uddhav Thackeray and the survival of the Thackeray Brand
Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) is leading in around 60 seats. While this is a sharp drop from the 84 seats won by the undivided Shiv Sena in 2017, the results show that the Thackeray name still carries weight in Mumbai despite the loss of leaders, the party symbol, and organisational control.
Uddhav’s campaign focused on projecting his faction as the original Sena and reminding voters of the party’s long association with Mumbai. By maintaining visibility in key wards and repeatedly highlighting the split as a betrayal of the Sena’s legacy by Eknath Shinde, he managed to hold on to support in traditional strongholds.
Though no longer the dominant force in the city, the party’s ability to remain competitive in spite of a very strong opponent in the form of the BJP and Eknath Shinde under pressure is a significant political gain for Uddhav Thackeray.
Big losers
1. Eknath Shinde and the limits of power
The Deputy CM’s Shiv Sena managed to lead in only 26 seats. This is despite the fact that after the party split, a majority of Sena’s 84 corporators elected in 2017 joined his camp. The result underlined that control of the government does not automatically translate into voter support in Mumbai, where Shinde seems to have drawn Marathi voters’ ire.
Shinde relied heavily on his position as Deputy CM and on the claim that his faction represents the real Shiv Sena. However, many traditional Sena voters in Mumbai chose to stay with Uddhav Thackeray’s faction. The BMC outcome is a warning sign for Shinde, who is not only navigating power equations with the BJP but is also struggling to retain the Shiv Sena’s traditional voter base in its home turf.
2. Raj Thackeray and pockets of Influence
Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has increased its tally slightly from seven to nine seats. While the numbers remain small, the results show that the party still has pockets of influence in Mumbai.
The MNS leader’s decision to align informally with Thackeray, his cousin, appears to have helped in closely fought wards, allowing the MNS to improve its performance marginally. Although the party is far from repeating its breakthrough in the 2008 BMC elections when it won 28 seats, Raj Thackeray has managed to retain a foothold in the city’s politics.
3. Congress and a missed chance
The Congress has seen its tally fall sharply from 31 seats in 2017 to just 12. This shows that the party failed to consolidate and improve its tally in a city where it was once a force to reckon with.
Under state unit president Harshvardhan Sapkal, the party depended largely on alliances with groups such as the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and on broader anti-government messaging. However, the lack of strong local leaders and weak ward-level mobilisation hurt the party. The results suggest that voters did not view the Congress as a serious contender for running the city.
4. Sharad Pawar and NCP (SP)’s shrinking urban presence
Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) failed to win even a single seat in the BMC, marking a steep fall from earlier years. The party has traditionally relied on the veteran leader’s personal stature and legacy, but the BMC results underline that Mumbai voters respond more to active local organisation and visibility. While Pawar continues to hold influence in rural Maharashtra, the absence of any major second-rung leader who could mobilise the party in Mumbai manifested in the results that it ended up with.
5. Ajit Pawar’s limited returns
Ajit Pawar’s NCP managed to win only three seats. The Deputy CM chose a strategy to not align with the BJP and the Sena, deciding to fight alone as Nawab Malik led and strategised for it.
While the bulk of its leads are in minority dominated areas, the faction will have a limited presence in the civic body, and has not managed to expand its support base or emerge as a significant force.
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