• Source:JND

Mumbai BMC Mayor: Mumbai is set to get a woman mayor from the General category following a lottery conducted by the Maharashtra Urban Development Department on Thursday. The reservation of Mumbai mayor's post has sparked controversy, with the opposition alleging that the lottery was “fixed” to favour the state’s ruling parties, the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.

How Is Mayor Elected? Know About Quota, Lottery And Voting Process

In Maharashtra, the mayor of a city, including Mumbai, is elected by corporators, with eligibility determined through a rotational reservation system. The reservation for each mayoral post, such as general, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backwards Classes (OBC), or women, is decided through a lottery before political parties name their candidates.

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The mayor's post is reallocated every two and a half years. Once the reservation category is announced, parties file their nominations, after which candidates have a 15-minute window to withdraw. Multiple candidates can file a contest, but a candidate must secure a minimum of 114 votes in the 227-member House to win.

Voting for the mayor is conducted openly, in which all corporators publicly declare for whom they are voting. The elections are conducted under the supervision of the senior-most member of the House, who also acts as the presiding officer.

Mumbai BMC Mayor Election 2026

This year, the lottery for Mumbai has reserved the mayor’s post for a woman from the General category. Similarly, eight other civic bodies, including Pune, Dhule, Nanded-Waghala, and Navi Mumbai, will have women mayors from the general category.

Thane will get a mayor from the SC category, while Jalgaon, Chandrapur, and Ahilyanagar will have women mayors from the OBC category. The lottery was conducted by the Maharashtra Urban Development Department and chaired by Madhuri Misal, minister of state for the department.

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Mumbai Mayor Row

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, along with her party, raised objections to the lottery process, alleging that the rules were changed without notice, Hindustan Times reported.

Former CM Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) argued that since the last two mayors were from the General category, the post should have been reserved for the Other Backwards Classes (OBC). The party also alleged that the reservation was manipulated to favour the state’s ruling parties, the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.

The opposition had hoped that the Mumbai mayor’s post would go to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category, as both eligible candidates in that group belonged to Uddhav Thackeray’s faction, the Hindustan Times report added.


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