Maharashtra election result highlights: Suspense builds over Mumbai Mayor's post; Shinde's corporators moved to hotel

After maintaining a lead for the longest time since trends for the Vasai Virar municipal corporation began this morning, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) is now trailing behind the BJP. The saffron party is leading on 65 seats and the BVA is ahead on 50 seats, HT has learnt.

With the BJP surging ahead in Pune, union minister Murlidhar Mohol expressed confidence in the party winning a comfortable majority and said that it has always delivered whenever given a chance.

"In the early trends, it is clear that BJP is winning with a full mandate. I had faith that Pune always thinks of development before voting, which is why the BJP is coming to power with a full majority," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The surprising reunion of Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar's NCP faction with his uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP faction appears to have failed to woo voters in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. While the Ajit Pawar faction is leading on 40 seats in PCMC, the BJP is way ahead there with a lead on 70 seats, trends reported by TV channels showed.

In Pune, the Pawar camp is leading on only 7 seats, way behind the BJP which is leading on 52 seats.

The ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP and the Shiv Sena, seems to be comfortably heading towards a big victory in the high stakes BMC elections. The BJP and Shiv Sena are together leading on 98 seats and the Uddhav Sena is ahead on 56 seats, TV reports showed.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Congress candidate Asha Kale won ward number 183 in Dharavi in the municipal polls on Friday. She thanked Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and MLA Jyoti Gaikwad for the victory. “With their blessings, we have won this seat. This is the victory of our party workers...,” Kale told news agency ANI.

With the counting of votes still underway in municipal corporations in Maharashtra, BJP's Pratap Dattatray Patil has claimed victory in the Kolhapur civic body. “I am a believer of development. So, people elected me. This is my second term...I express gratitude to them, I will meet their expectations and work for them,” Patil told news agency ANI.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: So far, eight wins have been declared in the BMC, including in one of the wards in Dharavi.

Ward 1 – Rekha Yadav, Shiv Sena

Ward 51 – Varsha Tembwalkar, Shiv Sena

Ward 163 – Shaila Lande, Shiv Sena

Ward 2 – Tejaswini Ghosalkar, BJP

Ward 214 – Ajit Patil, BJP

Ward 183 – Asha Kale, Congress

Ward 182 - Milind Vidya, Shiv Sena

Ward 135 - Navnath Ban, BJP

The BJP has won four seats in the Latur municipal corporation from ward number 14. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Asha Kale won the Dharavi ward by over 6,000 votes, HT has learnt.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) is leading on at least 84 seats in Vasai Virar, trends showed, as reported by TV channels. Meanwhile, the BJP, Uddhav Sena and Congress are leading on 25, five and one seats, respectively.

Uddhav Sena candidate Ramakant Rahate is leading in the Byculla municipal corporation against Shiv Sena candidate Vijay Lipare by over 2,500 votes, HT has learnt. Meanwhile, the BJP leading in Kalyan Dombivali with 19 seats, followed by Shiv Sena 10 and MNS 4.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Maharashtra minister Sanjay Shirsat on Friday claimed that around 100 policemen lathi-charged on Shiv Sena workers in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The minister said that the party workers were injured in the incident and sought action.

Reacting to his claims, Police Commissioner Praveen Pawar said that an investigation will be carried out. “The DCP will investigate the matter, taking into account the stance of both the police and Shiv Sena leaders, and then action will be taken,” the official told ANI.

The BJP-led Mahayuti is surging ahead in most of the 29 civic bodies of Maharashtra, early trends in TV reports have showed. The Mahayuti is ahead in at least 601 of the 2,869 seats and the Mahavikas Aghadi is trailing with a little over 70 seats, early trends have shown. Meanwhile, the Congress is ahead on 123 seats.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Prashant Jagtap, former mayor of Pune who switched over to Congress from the Sharad Pawar's NCP faction recently, is trailing in the civic body there by 400 votes, HT has learnt.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi reacted to the ongoing controversy over allegations of an erasable ink used to mark voters in some polling booths in Maharashtra on Thursday. “Election commission gaslighting citizens is how trust has collapsed in our democracy. Vote Chori is an anti-national act,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

The BJP-led Mahayuti is inching ahead in several civic bodies of Maharashtra, including Pune, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan Dombivali and Nashik, early trends showed, as per TV channels.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: According to early trends flashed by TV channels this morning, there appears to be a close fight between the BJP and the Shiv Sena (UBT) in the BMC polls of Mumbai. While the BJP is leading on 32 seats, and Uddhav Sena on 26, TV reports showed. However, the BJP may inch even farther as its ally, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is also leading on 12 seats.

Counting for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls has begun, along with that of 28 other civic bodies. A look at visuals from a counting centre in Mumbai's Worli.

With the counting of votes for the Maharashtra civic body polls underway, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that the EVMs used during polling in Mumbai on Thursday don't work properly. “The voting pattern that has been going on in a city like Mumbai is a serious matter. Names of thousands of people, who have even voted in the Assembly elections, are missing in areas where Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS or Congress... The EVM machine does not work properly... The Election Commission is not ready to listen to us. Yesterday, a meeting was held between the senior BJP leaders and the Election Commission staff, why? The Code of Conduct is still in place...,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The counting of postal ballots is underway in Pune and and Pimpri-Chinchwad. According to very early trends, the BJP is ahead on four seats in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and inching forward on five seats in the Pune Municipal Corporation, HT has learnt.

Very early trends have started emerging with the counting of votes for elections to the 29 civic bodies in Maharashtra underway. The BJP-led Mahayuti seems to be inching ahead with a lead on 183 seats, very early trends on TV channels showed.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Counting of votes for the 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra has begun. The most prominent of civic bodies this time is the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of Mumbai where elections are taking place after a hiatus of nearly four years.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: The counting of votes of Maharashtra's municipal corporation elections will begin shortly, scheduled for 10 am. The counting for postal ballots in Mumbai's BMC began at 9 am this morning. Apart from the BMC, some other civic bodies in the contest are Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala and Panvel, among others.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) National Spokesperson Waris Pathan on Thursday expressed confidence about his party's prospects in the civic body elections in Mumbai. Reacting to exit polls predicting a clean sweep for the BJP-led Mahayuti, Pathan said they were merely projections and not accurate.

“It's happened many times before that something was shown in the poll, and in the end, it turned out to be something else. Tomorrow is the vote counting, so tomorrow the results will come out. By tomorrow evening, everything will be clear. Who won, who lost, everything will be known... We are confident that the people have blessed us with their votes... We will achieve great success…,” Pathan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Several celebrities also voted as the Mumbai BMC went to polls on Thursday. Among them were Ranbir Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nana Patekar, Twinkle Khanna, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Kaartik Aaryan and Shraddha Kapoor.

Maharashtra elections result 2026 Live: Maharashtra forest minister Ganesh Naik reached a polling station in Vashi on Thursday but was left hunting for a polling booth after he found his name missing in the voters' list for the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections.

“R F Naik school is where we have always voted. Last time I was asked to vote at NMMC CBSE School 94. This time, when we came to NMMC school, we were asked to vote at St Mary’s school. When we went there, there was no room number nine. We came back to the CBSE school, but our names were not there either. We then returned to St Mary’s, where room number nine was finally opened and we were able to vote,” Naik told reporters.