Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has announced that the lottery to determine seat reservations for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections will be conducted on November 11, while the final ward reservation list will be published in the government gazette on November 28.
The draw will decide which wards will be reserved for women, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC), and which will remain open. This crucial process will shape the political roadmap for hundreds of aspirants in the highly anticipated BMC elections, expected to be held in mid-January 2026.
The SEC is fast-tracking the procedure following the Supreme Court’s directive to complete all local body elections in Maharashtra by January 31, 2026.
According to the election schedule issued by the SEC, the BMC will submit its proposal for determining the number of reserved seats to the commission between October 20 and November 3, and a public notice regarding the reservation draw will be issued on November 6.
The lottery draw for ward reservations will be held on November 11, with results submitted to the SEC the same day. The draft reservation list will be released on November 14, and citizens can submit their suggestions or objections until November 20. Public hearings on these objections will be conducted on November 21, after which the BMC Commissioner will make a final decision.
The final list of ward reservations will be officially published in the government gazette on November 28.
Although the reservation process is still underway, political parties have already begun preparing for the civic polls, which are set to take place after nearly nine years. The last BMC elections were held in February 2017, and the corporators’ term ended in 2022. Since then, the civic body has been operating under administrative rule.
