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Mumbai: The political reverberations of the Bihar Assembly election are already being felt in Maharashtra, with both the BJP and the Congress attempting to leverage the outcome ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. The BJP believes its strong showing in Bihar could energise party workers and sway North Indian voters in Mumbai and the wider metropolitan region.
Congress, meanwhile, is facing internal churn as it signals readiness to contest the BMC elections independently, underscoring its determination to reclaim lost ground. With sizeable North Indian populations spread across wards in Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayandar and Kalyan-Dombivli, both parties see a clear political opportunity. Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam declared, “The Bihar poll is just a trailer, the real picture will be the BMC.”
At the same time, Congress leaders in the city say the Bihar mandate should prompt the party to introspect and reorganise. Amid this, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis described the Bihar verdict as a public rebuke to the Congress, stating it was a fitting reply from “Janta” to Rahul Gandhi.
Notably, as per the Supreme Court’s directive, elections to the BMC and 28 other municipal corporations in Maharashtra must be completed before January 31, 2026.
Demographics continue to play a decisive role in Mumbai politics. Marathi-speaking residents now form less than 35 per cent of the city’s population, while Gujaratis, North Indians and Rajasthanis make up nearly half of the metropolis’s 1.4 crore people. This shift has reshaped political strategies, with every major party attempting to strengthen its presence among migrant groups, especially during festivals such as Chhath Puja, when help centres and outreach camps are a common sight.
The BJP has long eyed the BMC—Asia’s wealthiest civic body for complete control. In the 2017 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena won 84 seats, narrowly edging out the BJP by just two seats. The long-standing alliance between the parties collapsed that year, prompting them to contest separately. Since then, the BJP has invested heavily in building a broad voter base: of the 36 MLAs in Mumbai, 13 are non-Marathi, seven of whom belong to the BJP. In the 2017 BMC, 72 of the 227 corporators were non-Marathi, with half representing the BJP.
The party’s ambitions were underscored last year when it launched “Mission 150”, signalling its intent to secure an emphatic majority in the upcoming civic elections. Following another strong performance by the BJP and NDA in Bihar, senior party leaders believe this momentum can carry into municipal contests across Mumbai and the broader metropolitan region. “The spectacular result from Bihar will charge the party cadre ahead of the crucial local body elections, especially the high-stakes BMC battle,” a senior BJP leader said anonymously.
However, the shifting political landscape is not confined to the BJP alone. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is facing fresh tensions after Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad announced the party’s intention to contest the BMC polls independently. Speaking at a party gathering, she urged workers to “unfurl the Congress flag in the BMC”, adding, “We must ensure the election of Congress corporators. Prepare for all 227 seats.”
Her remarks come against the backdrop of a possible rapprochement between Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, an alliance that some Congress leaders oppose due to Raj Thackeray’s past rhetoric against North Indian migrants. Gaikwad emphasised that local units would decide the Congress’s strategy, noting that party workers prefer a solo contest along with support from like-minded groups.
She also called on members to intensify outreach over the next two months and closely monitor revisions to the voters’ list. The Congress, which partnered with the Shiv Sena in 2019 to form the MVA along with the NCP, has lost significant ground following internal splits in both the Sena (2022) and NCP (2023), which weakened the opposition front and strengthened the BJP-led government.
