Overview
- Counting began for 246 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats, with early trends pointing to gains for the BJP–Shinde Sena–Ajit Pawar NCP Mahayuti bloc in several regions.
- The BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena say roughly 150 of 227 BMC wards are already agreed in their seat-sharing talks, with remaining allocations expected soon.
- The Congress announced it will contest the Mumbai civic elections on its own, stepping away from the MVA locally and positioning itself against both the BJP and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena.
- Ajit Pawar’s NCP is pressing to be part of the Mahayuti’s corporation-level arrangements, with state chief Sunil Tatkare holding talks with BJP leaders while no final inclusion has been confirmed.
- The BJP intensified pre-poll groundwork with a high-profile induction of former corporators and local leaders from NCP factions, Congress and Shiv Sena in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.