BMC Elections 2026: Congress, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi Announce Alliance In Mumbai; VBA To Contest 62 Seats

Mumbai: Congress on Sunday, December 28, announced an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections 2026. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will contest 62 of the total 227 seats in Mumbai. The elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the BMC, will be held in a single phase on January 15, 2026, with counting on January 16.

Congress State President Harshwardhan Sapkal took to his official social media handle on X and wrote, ""

How Many Seats Will Congress Contest?

According to PTI sources, Congress will contest more than 150 seats, while some seats will be allocated to the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and RPI (Gavai).

Congress-VBA Come Together After 25 Yrs

Sapkal called it a 'new chapter' as after a gap of 25 years, the two paties come together. The two parties had earlier come together during the 1998 and 1999 elections. "It took time for the process, but from today, a new phase in state politics has started," Sapkal said.

Earlier in November, the Congress had announced that it would contest the BMC elections on its own, while keeping the option of alliances with like-minded parties open.

The decision to go solo came in the backdrop of the alliance between the Thackeray brothers, Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray. According to a report by PTI, a section of the Congress was opposed to partnering with Raj Thackeray, citing his strong views against North Indian migrants.

Speaking on the alliance with the Congress for the BMC polls, State VBA President Dhairyavardhan Pundkar said, "I would like to say that this alliance is a very good thing for Mumbai Mahapalika." Referring to the ongoing debate around the Marathi language, Pundkar described Mumbai as a secular city, and said, "People of every caste, religion and community live here. It is the financial capital of the country."

Harshwardhan Sapkal added that the alliance is not driven by a power struggle but by a shared ideology. "This is not a power struggle, but a convergence of ideas, and for us, seat sharing is not that important; we will go forward with the ideas," as quoted by news agency ANI.

BMC Elections 2026

The BMC has 227 seats with a total electorate of 1,03,44,315 voters, comprising 55,16,707 men, 48,26,509 women and 1,099 voters registered as 'others'. Men constitute 53 per cent of the electorate, while women account for 47 per cent.

The nomination process began on December 23 and will end on December 30, while January 2 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The final list of candidates will be published on January 3.

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