Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to West Bengal and Assam on Saturday and Sunday. During the visit, he will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for development projects worth several thousand crore rupees at various programmes in both states.
In Mumbai, the results of elections to all 227 wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have been fully declared. The results mark a shift in Maharashtra’s political landscape, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as the single largest party in the civic body. The BJP and the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, contesting together as the Mahayuti alliance, have secured a clear majority.
According to the official results, the BJP won 89 wards to become the largest party. Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray won 65 wards, while the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde secured 29 wards. The Congress won 24 seats. AIMIM won eight wards, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena won six wards. Other parties included the Nationalist Congress Party with three seats, the Samajwadi Party with two seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) with one seat.
The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP and the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde won a total of 118 wards, crossing the majority mark of 114, ensuring its control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. This is the first time the BJP has achieved such a result in the civic body.
The undivided Shiv Sena had controlled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from 1997 to 2022. This was the first BMC election held after the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, in which the Thackeray-led faction failed to retain power. Ahead of the polls, Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray appeared on the same platform after nearly two decades and raised issues linked to the Thackeray legacy and Marathi identity. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, however, won six seats, finishing behind AIMIM.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the outcome reflected a victory for the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and development-oriented policies, and that the people of Mumbai had placed their trust in the Mahayuti alliance. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said voters had rejected those who had been in power for 25 years and chosen a development-focused approach. He said some parties had fought the election on emotional issues, while the Mahayuti prioritised development.
The Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray said it had put up a b contest and performed well in several key areas but fell short of a majority.
