Old rivalries, new alliances to the fore in high-stakes battle

On 15 January 2026, a cocktail of new coalitions will contest elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra— among them India’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Congress has teamed up with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). Both parties, said Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal, are natural allies.

Together, the Congress and the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (an earlier avatar of the VBA) had fought and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1998. One of the reasons for the Congress to consciously steer an independent course may be the increasingly cosy relations between Sharad Pawar and industrialist Gautam Adani.

On 28 December, Adani joined the extended Pawar family at the inauguration of the Sharadchandra Pawar Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Baramati, named after his ‘mentor’ and funded by him. Meanwhile, estranged Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj have come together after 20 years.

The undivided Shiv Sena had ruled the BMC for 25 years. For the past three years, however, the BMC has been controlled by the breakaway Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde in alliance with the BJP, lending it far greater organisational and financial muscle. Ruling Mahayuti partners—the BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar)—will contest jointly. The BJP is going it alone in several towns, confident that it will win.

If this is not confusing enough, Ajit Pawar—who had a bitter falling out with his uncle Sharad Pawar in 2023—has joined hands with NCP (Sharad Pawar) in Pune where they will face the Congress–Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance. The Mahayuti swept the municipal and nagar panchayat elections held in December 2025, mirroring the results of the 2024 assembly polls.

While the verdict reflected the Mahyuti’s hold over rural Maharashtra, it was the Congress which sprung a surprise by contesting independently and winning more panchayats than the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar). Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and editor of Saamna, actually appeared resigned to the likelihood of results going in favour of the Mahayuti this January.

“Everyone knows how the BJP wins,” he said, hinting at manipulation of votes. “While municipal budgets are around Rs 25 crore, the BJP spent Rs 200 crore within weeks.” A report in The Indian Express detailed how almost the entire BMC development budget of Rs 1,490 crore went to BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) wards—with MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) wards receiving a paltry Rs 13 crore.

Instead of public outrage, what is visible is political campaigning that polarises voters along communal and ethnic lines: Marathis versus non Marathis, Hindus versus Muslims, Gujaratis versus non-Gujaratis. The distribution of tickets has been another flashpoint.

The BJP has fielded three relatives of assembly speaker and MLA Rahul Narwekar— brother Makrand, sister-in-law Harshita Narvekar and cousin Gauravi. It has also fielded the sons of former Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya and former BJP MLA Raj Purohit, prompting criticism for practising exactly the kind of ‘dynastic politics’ it pretends to shun.

Ajit Pawar’s NCP is also party to what seems to be a ‘family first’ motto. Four family members of party leader Nawab Malik have been nominated, including his niece, who is a sitting MLA.

While London has had a Muslim mayor for several years now and murmurs of “Mumbai needs a Mamdani” are doing the rounds in several circles, the BJP has ruled out a Muslim mayor for Mumbai. This, despite the city having elected six Muslim mayors between 1934 and 1963—a legacy recalled by historian Ramchandra Guha in his tribute to mayor Yusuf Meherally, harking back to a time when it was both ‘commonplace and characteristic’ to have a Muslim mayor.

With campaigning expected to hot up in the last mile, the battle in Mumbai epitomises the state’s intricate politics—of new coalitions, old rivalries and identity politics.