BMC Elections 2026: Congress Announces 126 Candidates Across Two Lists, Finalizes Vba Alliance Ahead Of Jan 15 Polls
The Congress party has released two lists of candidates for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for January 15.
On Monday, December 29, Congress unveiled its first list featuring 70 candidates. A day later, on Tuesday, December 30, the party released a second list containing 56 names, bringing the total number of announced candidates to 126.
The announcements came as the nomination filing deadline arrived on December 30, reflecting the party’s effort to solidify its electoral approach for India’s largest civic body, according to news agency PTI.
The BMC election process has entered a critical phase, with December 30 serving as the final date for submitting nomination papers. The final candidate list will be published on January 3.
The release of Congress’s candidate lists is expected to enable nominees to intensify campaign efforts across crucial Mumbai wards.
The BMC, comprising 227 seats, is considered the country’s wealthiest municipal corporation, managing an annual budget exceeding ₹74,000 crore, according to PTI. Control of this civic body carries significant political and administrative weight.
Alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi
The Congress candidate announcements followed the completion of a seat-sharing agreement with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), headed by former MP Prakash Ambedkar.
The alliance was finalized on Sunday, December 28, before the candidate list was made public.
According to the arrangement, the VBA will contest 62 seats in the BMC elections, while Congress will field candidates in the remaining constituencies assigned to it under the agreement.
Coalition partners release candidate lists
Beyond Congress and VBA, other alliance partners have also started announcing their nominees. Former Maharashtra minister Mahadev Jankar’s Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP), contesting the civic elections in partnership with Congress, released its first list of six candidates, according to PTI.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) declared candidates for seven Mumbai seats.
The party is part of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition but has not formed any separate alliance with other political parties specifically for the Mumbai civic elections.
Maharashtra civic election schedule
Elections for 29 municipal corporations throughout Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur, will take place on January 15. Vote counting is scheduled for January 16.
With nomination deadlines concluding and alliances solidifying, the BMC Elections 2026 are poised to witness competitive multi-party battles across Mumbai’s electoral wards.