Mumbai, Feb 7 (PTI) The BJP is set to install its first mayor in Mumbai after a gap of more than four decades, ending the Thackeray family’s dominance in the country’s richest civic body, with the party’s two-time corporator Ritu Tawde filing her nomination on Saturday for the election to the prestigious post.
Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the saffron party’s ally in the Mahayuti, has declared Sanjay Ghadi as its candidate for the deputy mayor’s post.
Tawde and Ghadi filed their nominations at the municipal secretary’s office in the presence of Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ameet Satam, former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, and other leaders of Mahayuti.
Saturday is the last day of filing nominations for these posts. Elections will be held on February 11, which is also the last day of withdrawing the nominations.
In the polls to the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, while Shiv Sena won 29 seats. The ruling alliance, with a combined strength of 118 corporators, is well past the halfway mark of 114 and is well placed to secure the mayor’s and deputy mayor’s post.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), which ruled the civic body for 25 years from 1997 to 2022, won 65 seats, while its allies, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) won six and one seat, respectively.
BJP’s mayoral candidate Tawde, who was earlier with the Congress, joined the saffron party in 2012 and was elected as a corporator the same year.
During her first term as a corporator, she chaired the Education Committee and was actively involved in raising issues related to local infrastructure, water supply and public safety.
The corporator from Ghatkopar East (ward 132) was in the limelight during her last tenure for raising the issue of objectionable clothes on mannequins in shops.
Ghadi, a corporator from Ward 5, will serve as deputy mayor for 15 months, Shiv Sena secretary Sanjay More has said in a statement.
He was one of the senior Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators who switched sides to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
By splitting the deputy mayor’s term in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena intends to give opportunities to four more of its corporators.
Addressing a press conference, BJP’s Satam said Mumbai is set to get a BJP mayor after 44 years.
BJP’s Prabhakar Pai had served as the city mayor in 1982-83.
Satam said the ruling Mahayuti would work to free the BMC from the clutches of corruption.
“Everyone has the freedom to file nomination papers. We have the backing of 118 corporators and the support of more members,” he said.
The BJP leader said the Mahayuti had asserted from day one that Mumbai’s mayor would be a Marathi and a Hindu, and pointed out that the city will now get “a Marathi, Malvani, Konkani and Hindu mayor”.
Satam said the Shiv Sena may have kept the deputy mayor’s tenure for 15 months to give opportunities to more party workers.
Targeting the BJP for nominating Tawde, a former Congress leader, for the mayor’s post, NCP (SP) said the move was an insult to the party’s loyal and experienced corporators.
NCP (SP) spokesperson and secretary Clyde Crasto said the decision sent a wrong message to BJP workers, who worked for years to strengthen the party at the grassroots level.
“By choosing a former Congress woman as mayor, the BJP has insulted its own faithful and loyal corporators who have given their blood, sweat and tears for the party,” he said in a statement.
He questioned whether the move reflected the BJP’s approach towards its cadre, asking if loyalty and commitment were no longer valued by the party leadership.
In the January 15 Mumbai civic elections, the Congress won 24 seats, AIMIM eight, the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) three, and the Samajwadi Party two. Two independent candidates also won in the high-stakes election, held after a nine-year gap.
The BMC commissioner has been serving as the state government-appointed administrator since March 7, 2022, following the end of the previous term.
The BMC is the country’s richest civic body, with its budget for the 2025-26 pegged at Rs 74,450 crore, which is higher than that of some smaller states. PTI KK PR MR ARU NP
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