Recently, in the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation elections, a clear saffron tsunami wave was evident in the State.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the 2026 Maharashtra civic polls, winning 1425 of 2869 seats across 29 municipal corporations, and wresting control of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) ( with its Mahayuti ally Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde) from Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, ending his family’s three-decade-old dominance in the cash-rich civic body.
In Mumbai, the BJP won 89, and Shiv Sena bagged 29 seats in 227 member BMC. Shiv Sena (UBT) managed 65 and its ally MNS won 6 seats. The Congress, which fought in alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), bagged 24 seats, AIMIM 8, NCP 3, Samajwadi Party 2, and NCP-SP got just one seat.
The saffron party stunned the Pawars in the Pune polls, clinching 119 seats, with Ajit Pawar-led NCP coming in distant second with 27 and its ally NCP(SP) getting 3 seats, while the Congress managed 15 seats.
In the 151-member Nagpur civic body, the BJP held sway getting 102, while the Congress bagged a mere 34 seats.
Nasik saw the BJP bagging 72 seats, while Siv Sena 26, Shiv Sena-UBT 15, Congress 3 and NCP 4.
The BJP victory streak continued in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (old neme Aurangabad), where it won 57 seats, followed by Shiv Sena 13, Congress with 1, and AIMIM bagged 33 seats.
Party Performance Summary
Total seats 2869
BJP- 1425 seats
Shiv Sena (Shinde)- 399
Congress-324
NCP (Ajit Pawar)-167
Shiv Sena(UBT)-155
AIMIM- 94
NCP (SP)- 36
The term Saffron Tsunami was also used previously to describe the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections, where Mahayuti coalition of (BJP, Shiv Sena of Shinde, and NCP of Ajit Pawar) secured the unprecedented majority with 230 seats out of 288 seats. That time poll analysts attributed that victory to Hindu unity and the ‘Sajag Raho” slogan, which effectively countered the opposition’s narrative. The 2026 civic polls further solidified the dominance across Maharashtra’s urban centre.
Several Strategic and Political Factors Contributed to This Outcome:
- Consolidation of Urban Vote Banks– The BJP successfully retained its traditional voter base of North Indians and Gujaratis while making significant inroads into the Marathi segment in Mumbai and other urban centres.
- Welfare Schemes and Governance– The alliance campaigned on a platform of ‘pro-people good governance’ and development (Vikas). Voters favoured the continuity of major infrastructure projects and state-level welfare initiatives.
- Fragmented Opposition– The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of Coongress, NCP-SP, and Shiv Sena-UBT, was weakened by internal splits. In many areas, the opposition vote was divided between Shiv Sena-UBT, Congress-VBA alliance, and Sharad Pawar led NCP.
- Impact of Smaller Parties– The AIMIM won 126 seats across the State fragmenting the opposition vote in Muslim-majority wards, which particularly hurt the Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT.
- Alliance Synergy in Key Cities– While partners sometimes contested separately to maximize their individual reach, the Mahayuti demonstrated effective vote transferability in high-stakes cities like Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur. In Pune’s BJP dominance crushed a local strategic alliance between the two NCP factions.
- Unopposed Victories– Before polling 68 Mahayuti candidates were elected unopposed after several opposition candidates withdrew their nominations,, providing early momentum to Mahayuti alliance.
These civic elections had made one thing very clear that Sharad Pawar is no longer a force in Maharashtra, his NCP faction could only win 36 seats across the State, where as other NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar fared much better compared to Sharad Pawar faction, as it bagged 167.
Secondly other than some parts of Mumbai, the hold of Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray is waning in other parts of the State. In Mumbai Uddhav Sena won 69 seats, while its overall State tally stood at 155 seats, that means in other parts of the State they could manage only 86 seats. These civic polls also confirmed what happened during the last State assembly election was not a fluke.
Thirdly AIMIM party is emerging strongly in Muslim populated area of the State, and it has hampered the Muslim vote bank off the Congress Party.
Lastly, the Congress party which was ruling the State in alliance with united NCP till 2014 is no longer a factor in Maharashtra politics, as they could manage only 324 seats across the State, which is even less than the seats obtained by Shinde’s Shiv Sena (399).
In the end, Shiv Sena-UBT and both the factions of NCP, If they want to survive in Maharashtra politics, they have to revisit their political thinking and strategy. The Congress Party is already in deep shit, and to come out of this is going to be a hard task for them.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
19th January 2026