BMC elections just wrapped up today (January 15, 2026), and man, the exit polls are coming in hot — pretty much everyone is saying the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance (BJP + Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena) is cruising to a big win in Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Polling ended around 5:30 pm, and with counting set for tomorrow (January 16) starting at 10 am, these early projections have the Mahayuti side looking super strong. The BMC has 227 seats, and you need 114 for a majority — most polls have them way past that.
Quick rundown from the big ones:
Axis My India is going bold with 131–151 seats for Mahayuti.
JVC is calling 138 seats.
Sakal has them at 119 seats.
The average across several (“poll of polls”) lands around 132 seats — that’s a comfy majority, no doubt.
The big drama was the reunion of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after like 20 years apart. They teamed up (Shiv Sena UBT + MNS + some others) to try and bring back that classic Shiv Sena vibe, rally the Marathi manoos (especially Marathas), and maybe grab Muslim votes too. It was emotional for a lot of folks, but the exit polls are saying it didn’t quite deliver the knockout punch they hoped for. Projections put their alliance at 58–68 seats (Axis says 58–68, JVC around 59) — solid second place, but not close to challenging. Congress and allies are way back at 12–16 seats, with others filling the rest.
From the breakdowns, the Thackerays held onto good support from Maratha and Muslim voters, but North Indian and South Indian communities swung heavily toward the BJP-Mahayuti side. Age-wise, younger voters (18–25) and women (around 44% backing them) really leaned alliance, while older folks (61+) stuck more with the traditional Thackeray loyalty.
This is the first real test since the Shiv Sena split in 2022, and after the long delay from 2017. The BMC is massive — Asia’s richest civic body with a budget over Rs 74,000 crore — so whoever wins calls the shots on roads, water, garbage, drainage… all the stuff that makes daily Mumbai life better (or worse!).
Exit polls aren’t always 100% accurate — we’ve seen surprises before — so tomorrow’s counting at those 23 centers will be the real deal. Fingers crossed it goes smooth!
What about you? Were you expecting this kind of sweep, or do you think the Thackerays might still pull something off? Let me know your thoughts — Mumbai politics is always wild!
Sources:
India Today
The Times of India
Hindustan Times
NDTV
Moneycontrol
Livemint
The Financial Express
