Mumbai to have woman mayor from open category, opposition alleges draws fixed

Mumbai: Mumbai’s next mayor will be a woman from the open category — according to lottery draws.

The Mumbai mayor is the First Citizen of the financial capital of India, who presides over ceremonial events, functions and meetings of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Even though both the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which have jointly contested the elections, are keen to have their mayor, the leaders of both the parties asserted that the mayor would be from the Maha Yuti-NDA alliance.

It is not yet known whether Maha Yuti partner Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which has contested the elections independently, will sit in the treasury benches.

However, the opposition parties, particularly the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged that the draws were fixed, a charge which was immediately rejected by the BJP.

In the 227-ward BMC, where the magic figure is 114, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats while Shinde Sena won 29 seats and NCP three.

The top contenders of the post are Tejaswi Ghosalkar, who had switched over from the Shiv Sena (UBT) to BJP ahead of the municipal corporation elections and won from Dahisar suburbs.

It may be recalled, on 8 February, 2024, Tejaswi’s husband and former Abhishek Ghosalkar was killed in a sensational fatal shootout involving Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar and local businessman-philanthropist Mauris Noronha alias Mauris Bhai, who later died by suicide, in the Borivli-Dahisar area of Mumbai. Abhishek Ghosalkar’s father Vinod Ghosalkar, is a former Shiv Sena MLA from Dahisar in Mumbai and the family is considered the Thackerays.

The lottery draws for the 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra was conducted by the Urban Development Department at Mantralaya, the state secretariat in Mumbai.

Shiv Sena (UBT)’s group leader and former Mayor Kishori Pednekar alleged illegalities in the process. “The last two Mayors of Mumbai were from the general category, this time OBC and ST categories should have been added during the lottery, but that didn’t happen. This is injustice to the ST community, therefore we raised objections,” Pedenekar told reporters., She alleged that the lottery process was carried out according to the elected mandate of the political parties.

However, Minister of State for Urban Development Madhuri Misal, who presided over the lottery draws, denied any foul play in the process and stated the process was transparently carried out according to the rules and with transparency. “The process was conducted strictly as per the rules. We noted their say…the objections raised are without merit,” Misal said.

Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam said that one needs to know the rules and the process. “The ST category can be included in draws if there are three corporators, but in this election only two from ST category were elected,” he said.

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar too denied there was any wrongdoing.

“The lottery was conducted transparently. After losing, they need some excuse… They have the habit…baseless...when they win they EVMs are okay but when they lose they say EVMs were faulty,” he said.

“As Mumbai develops, we take pride in the fact that a mother or sister will lead the city and ensure its security. Under the leadership of matru shakti, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will be corruption-free, pothole-free, and Mumbai will not turn into a slum. As the city develops under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, matru shakti will work in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Satam said.

The BMC will not convene a special meeting and the Mayoral elections are expected to be held on 28 or 29 January.