BMC, 28 municipal corporations to go to polls on Jan 15, here's all you need to know about upcoming civic elections

The State Election Commission SEC has announced that elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC will be held on January 15 2026Polling will be held from 730 am to 530 pm on January 15 and the counting of votes will take place on January 16 2026State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare made the announcement at a press conference in Mumbai He said that the Model Code of Conduct MCC has come into force from December 15 2025 across all municipal corporation areasModel Code of Conduct come into effectWith the announcement of the election schedule the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in all municipal corporation areas No policy decisions related to these areas can be taken during this period except in cases of natural disasters or emergency reliefMunicipal Corporations and term expiryOut of the 29 municipal corporationsJalna and Ichalkaranji are newly formed the terms of five corporations ended in 2020 and the terms of 18 corporations ended in 2022According to the officials the terms of four corporations ended in 2023 andthe BMCrsquos term ended in March 2022Notification dates and voting timeThe election notification for the BMC will be issued on December 16 2025 while notifications for the remaining 28 municipal corporations will be issued on December 18 2025Multimember ward systemAccording to the State Election Commission except for the BMC elections in the remaining 28 municipal corporations will be held under a multimember ward systemIn the BMC voters will cast one vote per wardIn other corporations voters may cast three to five votes depending on the number of seats in the wardNomination process offlineAlthough an online system is available the SEC has decided that nomination papers will be accepted only offline for municipal corporation elections considering demands from political parties and candidatesCaste validity certificate rulesCandidates contesting from reserved seats must submit a caste certificate and caste validity certificate with their nomination papersIf the caste validity certificate is not available candidates must submit proof of application and an undertaking to produce the certificate within six months of the election result Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the election retrospectivelyVoters polling stations and EVMsAccording to the SEC there are 348 crore voters across the 29 municipal corporationsTo conduct the elections 39147 polling stations have been set up 43958 control units and 87916 ballot units of EVMs will be used For the BMC alone 10111 polling stations11349 control units22698 ballot unitsMeasures against duplicate votersThe voter lists are based on Assembly constituency electoral rolls as of July 1 2025The SEC has taken steps to identify possible duplicate voters Such names are marked with a special symbol in the voter list Voters with duplicate entries will be allowed to vote only at the polling station selected after verificationlsquoMatadhikarrsquo mobile appThe SEC has launched the lsquoMatadhikarrsquo mobile app to help voters search their name in the voter list find polling station details and also view candidate informationThe app is available on the Google Play Store Voters can search using their full name or EPIC number said an officialThe SEC has directed all municipal commissioners to run largescale voter awareness campaigns to increase turnoutFacilities for senior citizens and persons with disabilitiesThe poll officials said that special arrangements will be made at polling stations for senior citizens persons with disabilitiespregnant women and women with infants The facilities will include ramps wheelchairs drinking water shade electricity and toiletsMobile phones will not be allowed inside polling stations said an officialElection staff and security 290 Returning Officers 870 Assistant Returning Officers Nearly 196 lakh election staff have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the electionsCampaigning deadlineCampaigning will end at 530 pm on January 14 2026 No political advertisements will be allowed in print electronic or social media after this timeThe officials said that the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees MCMC will be set up at municipal and state levels tocertify political advertisements monitor paid news and address complaints related to media coverageKey election dates Nominations December 23 to December 30 2025 Scrutiny December 31 2025 Withdrawal deadline January 2 2026 Symbols and final candidate list January 3 2026 Polling January 15 2026 Counting January 16 2026