Maharashtra civic polls: 68 Mahayuti candidates elected unopposed, including 44 of BJP

The BJP and its Mahayuti allies won 68 seats unopposed in the local body elections in Maharashtra, which will be polled on January 15.

As many as 68 candidates from the BJP and Mahayuti were elected unopposed across the state, reflecting the party’s growing strength in urban local bodies, BJP leader Keshav Upadhye said on Friday, January 2, 2026.

This includes 44 BJPs; the highest number comes from Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation in Thane district, followed by Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Panvel, Bhiwandi, Dhule, Jalgaon and Ahilyanagar.

BJP candidates Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap from Pune’s ward number 35 were elected unopposed after their rivals withdrew their nomination forms. The two were elected from the ward between 2017 and 2022.

Hailing the wins, Union minister and senior BJP leader Murlidhar Mohol said the next Pune Mayor will be from his party.

“We have a target of 125 seats, we have already won two of them, so there are 123 seats left. We won two seats unopposed. This is a document of good governance of the party,” Mr. Mohol said.

While the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena saw 22 of its candidates elected unopposed, the figure is two for Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

BJP leaders attributed this trend to the popularity of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and what they described as the successful election strategy of State unit president Ravindra Chavan.

These helped the BJP emerge as a dominant force not only in municipal councils but also in major municipal corporations, leaders added.