Mumbai is set to have a woman mayor from the General category following a lottery that was held on Thursday, which decided the reservation for the city’s top civic post.
In no time, it has drawn allegations from the opposition that the process was manipulated to suit the state’s ruling parties, the BJP and the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, claimed the draw was “fixed” and alleged that the reservation was deliberately skewed to deny it the mayor’s post. Sena noted that it had hoped the position would be reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), where both eligible candidates belonged to Thackeray’s party.
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How mayors are chosen in Maharashtra
Unlike direct elections, mayors here are elected by corporators, but only after the category of the post is decided through a draw-based reservation system. This lottery determines whether the post is open to the General category or reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backwards Classes (OBC), or women.
Notably, the mayor’s post is re-allotted every two-and-a-half years, and the reservation rotates through a lottery as mandated by law. Once the category is declared, both ruling and opposition parties nominate their candidates. To win, a candidate must secure at least 114 votes, an absolute majority in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
This year’s draw confirmed that Mumbai’s next mayor will be a woman from the General category. The same lottery also decided mayoral reservations in 28 other civic bodies. Eight cities, including Pune, Dhule, Nanded-Waghala and Navi Mumbai, will also have women mayors from the General category. Thane will get a mayor from the Scheduled Caste category, while Jalgaon, Chandrapur and Ahilyanagar will see women mayors from the OBC category.
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The lottery was conducted by the State Urban Development Department and chaired by Madhuri Misal. She refuted any claims of wrongdoing, stating that they lacked substance.
Interestingly, in the January 15 BMC elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, while the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, won 29.
