Maharashtra elections result 2026 live: Counting of votes for BMC, 28 other civic bodies to begin shortly

MAharashtra elections ensue 2026 unrecorded Updates: The say election direction testament announce the results of the high-stakes elections to Maharashtra's 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), shortly. The Maharashtra elections result announcement comes a day after the state's 2,869 seats across 893 wards went to polls on January 15.Some of the key municipal corporations to watch are Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, Ulhasnagar and Navi Mumbai, among others.The elections have drawn significant attention this time due to shifting political alliances, with former allies splitting and rivals joining hands for the contest. The once-estranged Thackeray cousins, Raj and Uddhav, who ended their rivalry last June, have united for the civic body polls in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is also contesting with Sharad Pawar's NCP faction in two seats—Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.A quick round-up of what happened on polling day:Which 29 civic bodies votedOne of the most prominent municipal corporations in the contest was Mumbai's BMC. Apart from it, other civic bodies in the fray were Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji.Highest voter turnout in Kolhapur, 41% in BMCPolling began at 7:30 am and lasted till 5:30 pm on Thursday. While official data on the final voter turnout is still awaited, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare reportedly said that the turnout in the 29 civic bodies was in the 46-50% range. By 3:30 pm, the highest turnout was recorded in Kolhapur at 50.85%, followed by Parbhani, Thane, Vasai-Virar and Panvel, among others.Erasable ink allegations surfaceAs Maharashtra voted in elections to the 29 municipal corporations on Thursday, allegations of the use of marker pens or “erasable ink” surfaced, with people claiming they could wipe the ink off using hand sanitisers.“Perhaps this is the first election where so many complaints are coming in that the ink applied is coming off immediately. There is collusion between the Election Commission and the ruling party. Many irregularities are happening,” Uddhav Thackeray was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.What exit polls predictedSeveral exit polls predictions favoured the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance to win most of the seats in the BMC polls. In terms of seat share, the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance is projected to win 131–151 seats, the Shiv Sena (UBT)–MNS–NCP (SP) alliance 58–68 seats, the Congress–VBA–RSP alliance 12–16 seats, and others 6–12 seats, according to Axis My India.A similar prediction was made by JVC, which projected the BJP-led alliance to win at least 138 seats.