Mumbai: Mumbai is all set to welcome a new Mayor on Wednesday as the civic leadership election at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is scheduled to be held at noon at the civic body’s headquarters in Fort. The election for the post of Deputy Mayor will follow immediately after the Mayor is chosen.
The contest is expected to be a formality, with no rival parties putting up candidates for either position. The ruling BJP–Shiv Sena alliance holds a comfortable numerical advantage in the 227-member BMC, making the outcome virtually certain.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has named corporator Ritu Tawde as its nominee for the Mayor’s post, while its alliance partner Shiv Sena has fielded Sanjay Ghadigaonkar for Deputy Mayor. Tawde represents Ward 132, whereas Ghadigaonkar was elected from Ward 5 in the civic elections conducted on January 15.
This transition marks a historic shift in Mumbai’s municipal politics. The BMC, considered India’s richest civic body, had remained under the control of the undivided Shiv Sena for nearly 25 years starting from 1997. After close to three decades, the BJP is now poised to assume a commanding role in the city’s civic administration.
Once elected, Ritu Tawde will become Mumbai’s 77th Mayor and only the second leader from the BJP to occupy the post. The party’s first Mayor in Mumbai was Dr Prabhakar Pai, who served a brief term in the early 1980s.
Senior leaders including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar are expected to attend the election proceedings at the BMC headquarters. The event will also be significant as it marks Sunetra Pawar’s first official visit to the civic body after becoming Maharashtra’s first woman Deputy Chief Minister.
In the latest civic polls, the BJP emerged as the largest single party with 89 seats, while Shiv Sena secured 29. Together, the alliance holds 118 seats, comfortably crossing the majority requirement of 114.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT), which once dominated the BMC, managed to win 65 seats. Congress followed with 24 seats, AIMIM secured eight, MNS won six, and smaller numbers went to the NCP factions, Samajwadi Party, Independents, and others. With the opposition fragmented and absent from the mayoral race, the BJP-led alliance is set to formally take charge of Mumbai’s civic governance.
