Navi Mumbai led India’s Super Swachh League for 2025–26, a cleanliness award category within a wider survey that also ranks cities by population and recognizes mentor-city partnerships. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the results, and President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards in New Delhi on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Surat placed second and Vijayawada third in the league. In a separate category for cities with more than 1 million residents, the ministry named Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur and Lucknow as the top three. The results therefore cover distinct groups rather than one ranking of every city.
The ministry introduced the Super Swachh League as a separate category in 2024–25. Its earlier announcement set eligibility based on a city placing in the top three in at least one of the previous three surveys and ranking within the top 20% of its population category that year.
Indore, which topped the league in 2024–25, appeared this year with Depalpur among the leading mentor-mentee pairs. Ahmedabad–Sanand and Tirupati–Kuppam were also among the top three pairs. The ministry said each pair’s result combined the scores of its mentor and mentee city. The program links 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities so higher-performing cities can share practices intended to help improve sanitation elsewhere.
For the 2025–26 survey, 27 million people provided feedback across 4,751 cities, according to the ministry. More than 3,000 assessors reviewed 43 indicators grouped into 10 areas. The process also used GPS monitoring and digital checks to verify assessments.
Murmu said residents are “the best judges” of cleanliness in their surroundings. The ministry said state-level winners will receive recognition at ceremonies in their states, but it has not announced when those events will take place.
