Swachh Survekshan 2025-26: Indore drops off podium, 9 MP cities win national awards
Synopsis
India's cleanliness benchmark just got reshuffled. Indore — the city that redefined urban sanitation for years — has fallen off the Swachh Survekshan podium, with Navi Mumbai taking first place. Bhopal, last edition's runner-up, won nothing at all. Nine Madhya Pradesh cities still earned national recognition, but the double blow to MP's two biggest cities signals that sustained rankings require more than momentum.
Key Takeaways
Navi Mumbai ranked first in the Clean City League , followed by Surat and Vijayawada in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 .
Indore dropped out of the top three for the first time in several years, though it won second place in the 'Super Swachh Jodi' category with mentor city Depalpur .
Bhopal , the previous edition's second-ranked city, failed to win any award; its mentored council Berasia was also unrecognised.
Nine Madhya Pradesh urban local bodies received national recognition, including Jabalpur , Gwalior , Ujjain , and Dewas .
The survey assessed 4,909 cities across 43 parameters including waste collection, segregation, and citizen feedback.
Bhopal's performance was affected by the legacy waste dump at Adampur and a recent sanitation workers' strike resolved after talks with CM Mohan Yadav .
Indore, long regarded as India's cleanest city, suffered a significant setback in the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 results announced on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, failing to secure a podium finish in the 'Clean City League' category — ending a remarkable winning streak at the national level. Meanwhile, Bhopal, which ranked second cleanest in India in the previous edition, went without a single award this year.
Who Topped the Rankings
Navi Mumbai claimed the top position in the Clean City League, with Surat finishing second and Vijayawada third. Indore, which had dominated the rankings for several consecutive years, dropped out of the top three entirely. The city did, however, secure recognition in a different category — jointly winning second place in the 'Clean City Pair' category, also known as the 'Super Swachh Jodi' award, alongside its mentor city Depalpur.
Madhya Pradesh's Overall Performance
Despite Indore's high-profile slip, Madhya Pradesh performed strongly in the aggregate, with nine urban local bodies receiving national recognition. President Droupadi Murmu conferred the awards at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The honoured cities included Gwalior, Jabalpur, Rewa, Ujjain, Sagar, Dewas, Budhni, and Depalpur.
Jabalpur was a standout performer, finishing second among cities with a population of over 10 lakh, behind Visakhapatnam and ahead of Lucknow. Gwalior also secured a place among the country's top 10 cleanest cities. In smaller-city categories, Ujjain topped the rankings for cities with a population of up to 3 lakh, while Dewas claimed first place among cities with a population of up to 1 lakh, both praised for consistent sanitation efforts.
Bhopal's Absence from the Podium
The state capital Bhopal failed to win any award, a sharp contrast to its second-place national finish in the previous edition. Its mentored municipal council, Berasia, also went unrecognised. Officials attributed Bhopal's slide to the legacy waste dump at Adampur and ongoing challenges in waste management. Notably, the city had recently witnessed a sanitation workers' strike over demands for better salaries, job regularisation, and improved facilities — an industrial action later called off following a meeting with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
About Swachh Survekshan 2025-26
This year's edition of the annual cleanliness survey evaluated 4,909 cities across India on 43 parameters, covering door-to-door waste collection, wet and dry waste segregation, garbage transportation, public space cleanliness, sanitation infrastructure, and citizen feedback. The scale and scope of the survey make it one of the world's largest urban sanitation assessments.
What Comes Next
The results serve as a performance benchmark that directly influences urban local body funding priorities and state government policy focus. With Bhopal's legacy waste crisis and Indore's podium exit both now in the national spotlight, Madhya Pradesh's municipal administration faces fresh pressure to address systemic gaps ahead of the next survey cycle.
Point of View
Once achieved, demand compounding institutional effort to maintain. The sanitation workers' strike and its resolution by political intervention rather than structural reform points to a deeper fragility in MP's municipal workforce model. Bhopal's complete blank this year, following a second-place finish, is arguably the more alarming data point: it suggests that last edition's performance was not backed by durable systems. The broader question for urban India is whether Swachh Survekshan's 43-parameter framework adequately captures sustainability, or whether cities have learned to perform for the survey cycle rather than for residents year-round.
NationPress
11 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Which city topped Swachh Survekshan 2025-26?
Navi Mumbai claimed the first position in the Clean City League category of Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, followed by Surat in second place and Vijayawada in third. Indore, the perennial topper in recent years, dropped out of the top three.
Why did Indore lose its top ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26?
Indore failed to secure a podium finish in the Clean City League for the first time after several consecutive years of topping the survey. The city did win second place in the 'Super Swachh Jodi' (Clean City Pair) category alongside mentor city Depalpur, but the precise reasons for its main-category slide have not been officially detailed.
Why did Bhopal win no award in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26?
Bhopal, the previous edition's second-ranked city, won no award this year. Officials cited the legacy waste dump at Adampur and persistent waste management challenges as key reasons. A sanitation workers' strike over pay and job regularisation also disrupted operations, though it was later called off after talks with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
Which Madhya Pradesh cities won national recognition in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26?
Nine Madhya Pradesh urban local bodies received national awards: Gwalior, Jabalpur, Rewa, Ujjain, Sagar, Dewas, Budhni, Depalpur, and Indore (in the Clean City Pair category). President Droupadi Murmu conferred the awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
How many cities were assessed in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26?
Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 evaluated 4,909 cities across India on 43 parameters, including door-to-door waste collection, wet and dry waste segregation, garbage transportation, public space cleanliness, sanitation infrastructure, and citizen feedback.
