Udaipur delivers a major BJP victory in Rajasthan’s urban local body elections (Image: Google)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as the leading force in Rajasthan’s urban local body elections, opening a significant advantage over the Congress as results were declared across thousands of wards on September 14, 2026. According to the Rajasthan State Election Commission’s latest official data available at 4 pm, the BJP had won 4,006 wards, whereas Congress had secured 3,490. Independents also registered a major performance with 2,205 wards.
The results are being closely watched as the elections represent an important political test for the Bhajanlal Sharma-led BJP government ahead of the 2028 Rajasthan Assembly elections.
The BJP secured a clear majority in the 80-member Udaipur Municipal Corporation by winning 53 wards. Congress finished with 23 wards, while independents won three. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) secured one ward. The Udaipur result gives the BJP a strong position to control the municipal board.
Despite the BJP’s overall lead, Congress managed to register important victories in Ajmer and Pali. In the 80-member Ajmer municipal body, Congress won 37 wards, compared with 32 for the BJP. Independents secured 11 wards, giving Congress the advantage in the key civic contest. Pali also produced a favourable result for Congress. Out of 65 wards, Congress won 29, BJP secured 21 and Independents bagged 15. Pali is the hometown of BJP Rajasthan president Madan Rathore, making the result particularly significant for the party.
Bharatpur produced one of the most unusual outcomes of the Rajasthan civic polls. Independents won or led in 36 of the 65 wards, significantly ahead of the BJP’s 20 and Congress’s seven. BSP and RLP secured one ward each. Bharatpur is also the hometown of Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma, adding political significance to the result.
Independent candidates have emerged as one of the biggest talking points of the Rajasthan civic elections. The latest official figures show Independents winning 2,205 wards, placing them well ahead of several established political parties. Their performance could prove crucial in urban local bodies where the BJP or Congress falls short of a clear majority.
As per the Rajasthan State Election Commission data available at 4 pm on September 14, 2026, the party-wise tally stood at as follows:
The figures reflect the official status available at the stated time and may change as counting and result updates continue.
Counting was conducted for 10,244 wards, with results for 8,787 wards declared by around 2:15 pm, according to the information provided. The elections cover 309 urban local bodies across Rajasthan, including 10 municipal corporations, 51 municipal councils and 248 municipalities. More than 1.44 crore voters were eligible to participate in the elections.
Voting for the urban local body elections was conducted in two phases on September 9 and 11, 2026. A total of 10,245 councillors are set to be elected across the state’s urban local bodies. The current election cycle is considerably larger than the previous one. Between November 2019 and February 2021, elections were held for 196 urban local bodies covering around 7,500 wards.
The latest results indicate that BJP is positioned to form boards in a majority of Rajasthan’s urban local bodies. The result marks a significant shift from the previous civic election cycle, when Congress controlled 123 of 196 urban bodies, while BJP was in charge of 64. Independents and other parties headed the remaining nine bodies.
The next major stage will be the election of mayors and chairpersons, scheduled for September 21, 2026. Deputy mayors, deputy chairpersons and municipal vice-presidents will be elected on September 22, 2026.
