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Maharashtra Civic Body Elections 2026: BJP-Led Mahayuti In Driver’s Seat With 68 Unopposed Wins So Far; Check Details

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Mumbai: Ahead of the January 15 Maharashtra urban local body elections, the ruling Mahayuti alliance has secured a major early advantage, with 68 seats already won unopposed, showing its strong grip over local bodies across the state.

The Mahayuti comprises the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). BJP leader Keshav Upadhye on Friday announced the unopposed victories, describing them as a major boost for the CM Devendra Fadnavis-led alliance ahead of polling. Of the 68 uncontested seats, 44 were won by the BJP, reflecting the party’s expanding footprint in urban local governance, a space traditionally dominated by regional parties.

In Maharashtra’s 29 municipal corporations, Mahayuti candidates have taken a clear lead even before voting began. Following the conclusion of the nomination withdrawal process on Friday, candidates from opposition parties pulled out in several wards, resulting in 68 candidates being declared elected unopposed. Of these, 66 belong to the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance, 44 from the BJP and 22 from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, while two are from the NCP.

Among the BJP’s 44 uncontested wins, 15 came from the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation in Thane district, the highest concentration of such victories. Other BJP wins include six each from Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Panvel municipal corporations, four from Dhule, three from Ahilyanagar and two each from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations.

Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saw 22 of its candidates elected unopposed, while Ajit Pawar’s NCP secured two such seats. Buoyed by these results, Union minister and senior BJP leader Murlidhar Mohol stated that the next mayor of Pune would be from the BJP.

These uncontested wins come on the heels of Mahayuti’s strong performance in the recently held municipal council elections and are expected to strengthen the alliance’s momentum further.

However, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has ordered an inquiry into reports of candidates being elected unopposed ahead of the January 15 polls. “We have asked all local authorities to submit reports. This is a routine process whenever nominations are withdrawn and only one candidate remains, The commission will examine whether any withdrawals were made under pressure, duress or inducement.

Earlier this week, Mahayuti finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. Under the agreement, the BJP will contest 137 seats, while the Shiv Sena will field candidates in 90 seats.

According to the final figures released by election authorities, 1,700 candidates remain in the fray across BMC’s 227 wards after scrutiny and withdrawals. Of the total nominations filed, 2,231 were found valid, 167 were rejected and 453 candidates withdrew their nominations.

Maharashtra

Path paved for implementation of Uniform Civil Code in the state, announcement of 7-member committee in Maharashtra Assembly to draft UCC : Devendra Fadnavis

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Mumbai: The path for the implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been paved in the state as well and the Chief Minister has approved a 7-member legal drafting committee to ensure the implementation of the uniform law. After this, a 7-member committee has been formed today which will prepare the draft of UCC and present it in the upcoming Nagpur Assembly. Uttarakhand was the first state to implement UCC, now the state of Maharashtra has made progress in implementing UCC.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has formed a 7-member committee in the state assembly today to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. This committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Justice Ranjana Desai and it has to submit a report within 6 months. This detail was presented by the state assembly here by the state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He said that the constitution of the country gives the provincial governments the authority to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). On the same line, many states have also approved the draft of the UCC and the UCC has also been implemented here. Along with this, a 7-member committee has been formed in Maharashtra to ensure the implementation of the UCC. After the analytical and study report of this committee, the UCC will be implemented. This report will be presented within a period of 6 months and it is expected to be presented in the upcoming Nagpur winter session. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier announced the formation of a committee regarding the draft of the UCC. The formation of this committee was approved today. And now this committee will present an analytical report related to UCC.

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Maharashtra

Member of milk adulteration gang arrested, 470 liters of adulterated milk seized

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A team led by Sandeep Patil (in-charge of Unit 12) under the supervision of DCP Nunath Dhawale of Mumbai Crime Branch arrested an accused involved in milk adulteration in Dahisar area on Thursday. The police seized about 470 litres of adulterated milk, which is attributed to the brand names of Gokul and Amul, from the spot. The police had been receiving complaints of milk adulteration for the last few days. Acting on the instructions of Commissioner of Police Devin Bharti, Joint CP (Crime) Anil Kumbhare, and Additional CP Krishnakant Upadhyay, the operation was launched under the leadership of DCP Nunath Dhawale, which included ACP Ravinder Adane and Sandeep Patil, in-charge of Unit 12. After this operation, the gang involved in milk adulteration was exposed. Along with this, after the action of the FDA, the Mumbai Crime Branch has also tightened its grip on those selling adulterated milk.

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Maharashtra

‘Don’t threaten Oppn, you are the Chief Minister’: Raj Thackeray targets Fadnavis over Mumbai e-way ‘Missing Link’ tunnel leak

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Mumbai, July 9: Launching a scathing attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the recent water leakage inside the Mumbai-Pune Expressway ‘Missing Link’ tunnel, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday accused the MahaYuti government of hiding its failures behind emotional rhetoric.

Addressing the anniversary event of the MNS Railway Kamgar Sena, the MNS Chief questioned the Chief Minister’s defence in the Legislative Assembly and hit back at his remarks warning the Opposition against “politicising” the issue.

Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Fadnavis’s objection to the Opposition’s criticism, Raj Thackeray said, “Wow! He (Devendra Fadnavis) says don’t politicise it. When anyone speaks out, it becomes ‘politics’ to them. What were you doing all those years when you were in the Opposition? Weren’t the agitations you staged against previous governments ‘politics’? Now that the heat is on you, you claim the Opposition is playing politics.”

He also dismissed the Chief Minister’s emotional appeal in the House, where Devendra Fadnavis had said that he could tolerate personal attacks but not the insult of Maharashtra.

“People are raising genuine questions about the Missing Link project. Where is the insult to Maharashtra in that?” he asked.

“If anyone speaks against the Central government, they are labelled ‘anti-national’. If someone speaks about the Missing Link, it is called an insult to Maharashtra! Are citizens not supposed to ask you questions at all?” Raj Thackeray added.

The MNS Chief also targeted Chief Minister Fadnavis for issuing warnings to critics and suddenly shifting languages during his Assembly speech.

“The Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) declared in the Assembly that the Missing Link features top-notch construction quality and threatened to ‘deal with’ those politicising it. Listen, you are the Chief Minister. What do you mean by ‘I will deal with you’?” Raj Thackeray remarked.

The MNS Chief also said, “After saying all this, the Chief Minister suddenly started speaking in Hindi. Who was he speaking in Hindi for? The MLAs sitting in front of him are Marathi, the Legislative Assembly belongs to Maharashtra, yet our Chief Minister speaks in Hindi. Why? Perhaps Devendra Fadnavis wanted to send a message to his party bosses at the top, telling them that ‘I will deal with them’. Even he (Devendra Fadnavis) knows where these leak videos are originating from. There is massive internal infighting brewing within the BJP — just wait and watch what happens next.”

Turning his focus to the state of infrastructure, Raj Thackeray alleged widespread corruption in government contracts, claiming it has severely compromised construction quality.

“They (MahaYuti government) have completely ruined Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Thane, and this government calls it ‘development’. Construction is happening everywhere you look; the Chief Minister should just shut down all this construction. Building just roads and flyovers does not equate to development. I honestly don’t understand what these people learn when they travel abroad,” the MNS Chief said.

Highlighting the structural flaws of the mega-project, Raj Thackeray said, “The Missing Link project was inaugurated on May 1. Now, in July, water is leaking through it. A brand-new tunnel started leaking within just 60 to 65 days! During the inauguration, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was boasting about how materials for the project were sourced from various countries. But the moment you hand it over to Indian contractors, they do exactly what they always do.”

He concluded with a serious allegation regarding contractor kickbacks.

“Some contractors are openly saying that they have to pay 56 per cent of the contract value as bribes to people in the state government. If they have to execute the project with just the remaining 44 per cent of the budget, this is exactly the kind of roads you are going to get,” the MNS Chief said.

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