Pune Civic Polls 2026: Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar Share Stage As NCP Factions Unveil Joint Manifesto

Last Updated:January 10, 2026, 10:27 IST

The BJP and Shiv Sena, both part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, have fielded 137 and 90 candidates respectively for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body elections.

Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) leader Supriya Sule and NCP leader Ajit Pawar (Credits: ANI)

Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) leader Supriya Sule and NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday jointly addressed the media at the launch of their common manifesto for the upcoming civic body elections in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The joint appearance marked a rare show of unity between the NCP–Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) faction and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

The Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body elections are scheduled to be held on Thursday, January 15, 2026, with polling set to take place from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM.

The elections will mark the first major electoral contest of 2026 in Maharashtra. As many as 29 local bodies across the state are scheduled to go to the polls on January 15. These elections were delayed for several years due to prolonged legal disputes.

According to the Maharashtra State Election Commission, the terms of these civic bodies ended between 2015 and 2018.

Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and 17 other major municipal corporations were last held in 2017.

Five corporations — Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli — went to the polls in 2015, while Dhule, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar and Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad held elections in 2018.

The political contest is expected to be intense. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, both part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, have fielded 137 and 90 candidates respectively. Their ally, the NCP led by Ajit Pawar, is contesting independently with 94 candidates, setting up direct contests with its alliance partners in several seats if withdrawals do not take place.

On the opposition side, the Congress has fielded 143 candidates. Its ally, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Prakash Ambedkar, has nominated 42 candidates despite being allotted 62 seats under a pre-poll understanding. The Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, another Congress ally, has put up six candidates.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, is contesting over 150 seats, while the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) is contesting 11. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is contesting the remaining seats.

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