Polling is actively underway today, January 15, 2026, for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election and 28 other municipal corporations across Maharashtra. This significant civic electoral exercise sees nearly 3.48 crore eligible voters casting their ballots for 15,931 candidates across 893 wards in the state. In Mumbai alone, India's wealthiest civic body with an annual budget exceeding ₹74,400 crore, approximately 1.03 crore citizens are eligible to vote for 1,700 candidates vying for 227 seats. The voting commenced at 7:30 a.m. and will conclude at 5:30 p.m. A public holiday has been declared in municipal areas to encourage voter participation. These elections are particularly high-stakes as they mark the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena, which had governed the corporation for 25 years. The political landscape sees the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in a fierce contest against the united Thackeray front, comprising estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who reunited ahead of these polls. Other key players include the Congress, forming alliances with parties like the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in Mumbai, and various factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in other regions. Security arrangements are extensive, with over 25,000 police personnel deployed across Mumbai to ensure peaceful polling. Vote counting for all municipal corporations is scheduled for Friday, January 16, 2026.