BJP takes control of Mumbai for first time, ends Thackerays' 28-year grip
The BJP emerged as the single-largest party, winning 89 of 227 wards and surpassing its 2017 tally. The Uddhav Sena-MNS- NCP (SP) combine managed 72 seats. Contesting alone, the Congress secured 24, while AIMIM surprised with eight wards.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance’s victory in the BMC elections has ended the Thackerays’ long grip over Asia’s richest civic body. Riding on a watershed performance in Mumbai and rest of the state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stamped his authority on Maharashtra politics, emerging as the man of the moment.
Under his leadership, the BJP surpassed its previous high of 82 seats in 2017, winning 89 of the 227 wards in the BMC. Its Mumbai ally, the Shiv Sena, won 29 seats, taking the alliance to 118 seats, comfortably past the halfway mark of 114.
The BJP’s near one-party show in the cash-rich civic body also underscores how Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s deputy, Eknath Shinde, has struggled to retain the Shiv Sena’s traditional base in its stronghold since taking over the party. Despite a majority of the undivided Shiv Sena’s 84 corporators elected in 2017 staying with Shinde, his faction managed to win only 29 seats.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, speaking to India Today, praised Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP-led alliance, saying the Mumbai civic body results amounted to a mandate for "development" and against "corruption." He added that the BMC verdict was also a positive vote for the Mahayuti’s performance over the last three-and-a-half years since it came to power in Maharashtra.
When asked whether the new BMC mayor would be from the Shiv Sena or the BJP, Eknath Shinde sidestepped the question, saying, "It will be someone from the Mahayuti."
On the other hand, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has won 65 seats, a notable decline from the 84 secured by the undivided party in 2017. The results suggest that despite losing its symbol and a section of its cadre, the Thackeray legacy is far from over.
HINDUTVA VS MARATHI IDENTITY
Desperate to reclaim the family legacy on their home turf, Uddhav Thackeray revived the insider-outsider narrative, reuniting with estranged cousin Raj Thackeray after two decades - only on the eve of the civic body polls.
Before Bal Thackeray reinvented himself as the Hindu Hriday Samrat in the late 1980s, his politics was rooted firmly in sons-of-the-soil ideology, marked by sustained anti-‘Madrasi’ rhetoric through the 1960s and 1970s.
Nearly four decades later, however, his nephew appeared to circle back to that discarded playbook - this time stoking anti-Hindi sentiment, even targeting Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai and taking a veiled dig at the South Indian community by invoking the decades-old "uthao lungi, bajao pungi" slogan.
Raj Thackeray’s attempt to echo his uncle’s confrontational politics flopped, securing just six of the 52 seats contested and dragging down his cousin, who nevertheless put up a spirited fight to finish second in the civic race.
The Thackerays’ third ally, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), managed to bag just a single seat.
The battle lines were drawn the moment the Thackeray brothers joined hands - it was set to be a clash between Marathi pride and the BJP’s Hindutva plank.
The Thackerays warned of an existential threat to Marathis and Mumbaikars, their livelihoods, language, and identity.
Fadnavis was quick to take the wind out of the Thackerays’ "threat to Mumbai" narrative, calling it fake and asserting that the pride of the Marathi Manoos was not up for negotiation.
Post results, Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane on Friday said the BJP and Shiv Sena's strong showing in the Mumbai civic polls amounted to a clear mandate for its Hindutva pitch during the campaign, as the alliance surged ahead in the race.
Reacting to the results, Rane posted in Hindi, "Jo Hindu ki baat karega wo Maharashra pe raj karenga (Those who speak for Hindu interests will rule Maharashtra.)," followed by "Jai Shri Ram".
Earlier this week, a day ahead of voting, Fadnavis had said that the alliance would win in Mumbai and that the city would get a Marathi mayor.
"The threat to Mumbai is a fake narrative created by the Thackeray brothers, keeping polls in sight as they don’t have any development work to show," he said.
Following the results, armed with the people’s verdict, Fadnavis declared at the Mumbai party office that Hindutva and development are interconnected and cannot be separated.
CONGRESS'S REALITY CHECK, AIMIM'S SURPRISE SHOW
Allies in the state with the Uddhav Sena and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), the Congress chose to chart its own course in the BMC polls, wary of being sandwiched between the Thackerays, ongoing seat-sharing disputes, and keen to test its organisational strength. Its last-minute alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) failed to make an impact, with the Congress winning only 24 seats and its smaller ally securing eight.
Making its debut in the previous BMC polls, the AIMIM improved its tally from two seats in 2017 to winning eight wards this time.
Taken together, the BMC verdict has redrawn Mumbai’s urban political map. While the Thackerays managed to arrest a complete collapse and retain relevance, the election decisively underlined the BJP-led alliance’s expanding footprint in urban Maharashtra.
For Devendra Fadnavis, the results mark not just a municipal victory but a consolidation of authority - one that marries Hindutva with governance and positions him firmly at the centre of the state’s political axis.
For the opposition, the outcome is a cautionary tale ahead of the 2029 Assembly elections. Identity politics alone proved insufficient against an alliance that successfully combined organisational strength, development messaging and ideological clarity.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance’s victory in the BMC elections has ended the Thackerays’ long grip over Asia’s richest civic body. Riding on a watershed performance in Mumbai and rest of the state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stamped his authority on Maharashtra politics, emerging as the man of the moment.
Under his leadership, the BJP surpassed its previous high of 82 seats in 2017, winning 89 of the 227 wards in the BMC. Its Mumbai ally, the Shiv Sena, won 29 seats, taking the alliance to 118 seats, comfortably past the halfway mark of 114.
The BJP’s near one-party show in the cash-rich civic body also underscores how Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s deputy, Eknath Shinde, has struggled to retain the Shiv Sena’s traditional base in its stronghold since taking over the party. Despite a majority of the undivided Shiv Sena’s 84 corporators elected in 2017 staying with Shinde, his faction managed to win only 29 seats.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, speaking to India Today, praised Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP-led alliance, saying the Mumbai civic body results amounted to a mandate for "development" and against "corruption." He added that the BMC verdict was also a positive vote for the Mahayuti’s performance over the last three-and-a-half years since it came to power in Maharashtra.
When asked whether the new BMC mayor would be from the Shiv Sena or the BJP, Eknath Shinde sidestepped the question, saying, "It will be someone from the Mahayuti."
On the other hand, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has won 65 seats, a notable decline from the 84 secured by the undivided party in 2017. The results suggest that despite losing its symbol and a section of its cadre, the Thackeray legacy is far from over.
HINDUTVA VS MARATHI IDENTITY
Desperate to reclaim the family legacy on their home turf, Uddhav Thackeray revived the insider-outsider narrative, reuniting with estranged cousin Raj Thackeray after two decades - only on the eve of the civic body polls.
Before Bal Thackeray reinvented himself as the Hindu Hriday Samrat in the late 1980s, his politics was rooted firmly in sons-of-the-soil ideology, marked by sustained anti-‘Madrasi’ rhetoric through the 1960s and 1970s.
Nearly four decades later, however, his nephew appeared to circle back to that discarded playbook - this time stoking anti-Hindi sentiment, even targeting Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai and taking a veiled dig at the South Indian community by invoking the decades-old "uthao lungi, bajao pungi" slogan.
Raj Thackeray’s attempt to echo his uncle’s confrontational politics flopped, securing just six of the 52 seats contested and dragging down his cousin, who nevertheless put up a spirited fight to finish second in the civic race.
The Thackerays’ third ally, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), managed to bag just a single seat.
The battle lines were drawn the moment the Thackeray brothers joined hands - it was set to be a clash between Marathi pride and the BJP’s Hindutva plank.
The Thackerays warned of an existential threat to Marathis and Mumbaikars, their livelihoods, language, and identity.
Fadnavis was quick to take the wind out of the Thackerays’ "threat to Mumbai" narrative, calling it fake and asserting that the pride of the Marathi Manoos was not up for negotiation.
Post results, Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane on Friday said the BJP and Shiv Sena's strong showing in the Mumbai civic polls amounted to a clear mandate for its Hindutva pitch during the campaign, as the alliance surged ahead in the race.
Reacting to the results, Rane posted in Hindi, "Jo Hindu ki baat karega wo Maharashra pe raj karenga (Those who speak for Hindu interests will rule Maharashtra.)," followed by "Jai Shri Ram".
Earlier this week, a day ahead of voting, Fadnavis had said that the alliance would win in Mumbai and that the city would get a Marathi mayor.
"The threat to Mumbai is a fake narrative created by the Thackeray brothers, keeping polls in sight as they don’t have any development work to show," he said.
Following the results, armed with the people’s verdict, Fadnavis declared at the Mumbai party office that Hindutva and development are interconnected and cannot be separated.
CONGRESS'S REALITY CHECK, AIMIM'S SURPRISE SHOW
Allies in the state with the Uddhav Sena and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), the Congress chose to chart its own course in the BMC polls, wary of being sandwiched between the Thackerays, ongoing seat-sharing disputes, and keen to test its organisational strength. Its last-minute alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) failed to make an impact, with the Congress winning only 24 seats and its smaller ally securing eight.
Making its debut in the previous BMC polls, the AIMIM improved its tally from two seats in 2017 to winning eight wards this time.
Taken together, the BMC verdict has redrawn Mumbai’s urban political map. While the Thackerays managed to arrest a complete collapse and retain relevance, the election decisively underlined the BJP-led alliance’s expanding footprint in urban Maharashtra.
For Devendra Fadnavis, the results mark not just a municipal victory but a consolidation of authority - one that marries Hindutva with governance and positions him firmly at the centre of the state’s political axis.
For the opposition, the outcome is a cautionary tale ahead of the 2029 Assembly elections. Identity politics alone proved insufficient against an alliance that successfully combined organisational strength, development messaging and ideological clarity.