SANJEEB KUMAR SAHOO
As previously indicated, exit polls were shown to be unreliable.Exit Poll agencies have been formed to deceive certain political parties and confuse voters.
And trust me, after the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, I have no faith in any exit poll agencies. Because exit poll agencies have been making incorrect predictions since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, several political parties may have paid exit poll agencies crores of rupees in order to mislead voters.
Let’s get right to the point: In the following paragraphs, I will just discuss the results of the 2026 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls; I will not discuss the results of any other Maharashtra municipal corporation polls because I need to review all the data and findings. After that, I will discuss the results of all the municipal corporations in Maharashtra.
However, at this point, I will speak briefly and state that the BJP performed exceptionally well in Maharashtra because of its strong grassroots organisation, while #EknathShinde’s Sena performed poorly despite sharing power with the BJP in #NewDelhi and #Maharashtra.
However, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, the Thackeray brothers, and the Sena did poorly throughout the state since they were all preoccupied with the 2026 elections for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation rather than other Maharashtra municipality corporations.
First of all, I would say that the BJP’s best-ever performance was expected due to great organisation and excellent coordination between the centre and state leaders regarding poll preparations, as both the BJP centre and top leaders are personally engaged in BMC Polls.
Therefore, I believe that the success of the BMC polls is due to the top strategy of top BJP leaders rather than any member of the Maharashtra BJP, even though many people credit the Mr Chief Minister.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was held in a single phase on January 15, 2026, with the results announced on January 16.
Thackeray’s brother leads political parties such as Shiv Sena UBT and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, both of which have performed well in BMC polls and beyond my expectations.
Furthermore, I knew that the Thackeray brothers would struggle to secure the critical number of 114 out of 227 seats since voters would not give Thackeray’s brother’s party the numbers they needed to win the Mumbai mayor’s chair. Mumbai Mayor
Additionally, I was aware that Thackeray’s Sena did not do well since some Thackeray members supported Shinde’s Sena in the 2025 elections. However, in the BMC polls, the Thackeray family reconciled and contested together.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that the Thackeray brothers did not reach the key numbers to have their alliance mayor who can lead BMC, I am glad because I was aware that, owing to the last few months’ political circumstances, Thackeray supporters would be voting for Thackeray’s Senas and then did so; thus, I believe Thackeray is the best brand in Mumbai.
Let’s talk about how, as you know, the senior leaders of the Congress did not take the BMC Elections seriously, and one of them chose not to fly to Mumbai in order to attend a missionary school ceremony at St. Thomas English High School in Tamil Nadu.
By the way, Congress was expected to win Latur (Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC)) due to the late Vilasrao Deshmukh brand, not any other brand.
At the same time, it was anticipated that Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM would score better in places where Muslims predominate, as AIMIM did well, winning six seats in the 2026 BMC polls, with Muslim voters gradually switching to AIMIM, as seen in the 2025 Bihar polls.
On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party (SP) was projected to win only two seats after winning six in 2017, while AIMIM won two in 2017; however, AIMIM won six in the 2026 BMC Elections. Interestingly, voters did not entertain Pawars’ political parties since they were aware of all of Pawars’ political games, as I have repeatedly explained in my tweets.
Now I am going to complete my editorial, but based on the results, the mayor will be from the BJP, but you are all familiar with #MumbaiPolitics, which you saw in 2022 when Eknath Shinde rebelled against his own party and then took control of the party, eventually becoming chief minister.
So, everything is possible in Mumbai politics. So the majority mark is 114 in BMC’s 227 wards. The BJP won 89 seats, while the Shinde Sena received 29. The total stands at 118, much above the majority figure of 114.
Interestingly, voters did not entertain Pawars’ political parties since they were aware of all of Pawars’ political games, as I have repeatedly explained in my tweets.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, which ran alone despite being in Mahayuti, won three wards, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) won only one seat, despite being in an alliance with Thackeray’s political parties for the BMC elections.
And the Pawars’ setbacks were necessary so that future politicians may learn from the Pawars’ defeat of those who wish to enter politics and become honest politicians for the sake of India’s needy people.
And when I say “Gautam Adani’s “mentor” Sharad Pawar,” I mean that on December 28, 2025, Gautam Adani described Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar as his “mentor” while inaugurating the Sharadchandra Pawar Centre for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in Maharashtra’s Baramati region.
And I would want to conclude with my editorial, stating that if the whole Opposition camp decided to band together to prevent the BJP-led alliance from obtaining control of the BMC, the strength would climb to 106, just eight short of the majority.
