Mumbai is set to get a woman mayor after a lottery draw on Thursday reserved the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayoral post for the General Woman category, triggering sharp protests and a walkout by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
The lottery was held as part of the state’s civic reservation exercise, under which mayoral posts in nine municipal corporations, Pune, Dhule, Mumbai, Nanded, Navi Mumbai, Malegaon, Mira Bhayandar, Nashik and Nagpur, were reserved for women.
Three municipal corporations, Latur, Jalna and Thane, were reserved for the Scheduled Castes category, with Latur and Jalna marked for SC women, while Thane remained open within the category. Eight corporations were reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC), including four for OBC women.
Objecting to the reservation of Mumbai’s mayoral post, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former mayor Kishori Pednekar questioned why the BMC was not considered under the OBC category, pointing out that the post had remained open for the previous two terms.
“There are many areas where the OBC community stays in Mumbai. No chit with names of their representatives was put in the lottery. This is wrong. We condemn it,” Pednekar said after the draw.
A state minister responding to the protest said the concerns raised by the Sena (UBT) had been noted and would be examined.
The protest comes amid intense political churn following the recent BMC elections, in which the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, ended the Thackeray family’s nearly three-decade control over the country’s richest civic body.
The BJP secured 89 seats, while the Shinde Sena won 29, giving the alliance a clear majority. However, internal friction within the ruling bloc over the mayoral post has persisted, with the BJP pushing for a power-sharing arrangement and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde emphasising alliance unity.
Despite the numbers, the reservation decision has added another layer of political tension ahead of the mayoral election.
Also read: Mumbai to get Mahayuti Mayor, says Shinde
The state government formally announced the reservation lottery for mayoral posts across Maharashtra’s municipal corporations, laying out the category-wise distribution for the upcoming civic term.
Under the lottery:
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Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC): General – Women
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Thane: Scheduled Caste (SC)
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Kalyan-Dombivli: Scheduled Tribe (ST) – Male
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Navi Mumbai: General – Women
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Vasai-Virar: General – Women / Men
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Bhiwandi-Nizampur: General – Women / Men
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Mira-Bhayandar: General – Women
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Ulhasnagar: OBC – Women / Men
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Pune: General – Women
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Pimpri-Chinchwad: General – Women / Men
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Nagpur: General – Women
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Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar): OBC – Women
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Nashik: General – Women
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Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: General – Women / Men
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Akola: OBC – Women
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Amravati: General – Women / Men
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Latur: Scheduled Caste (SC) – Women
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Nanded-Waghala: General – Women
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Chandrapur: OBC – Women
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Dhule: General – Women
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Jalgaon: OBC – Women
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Malegaon: General – Women
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Kolhapur: OBC – Women / Men
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Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad: General
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Solapur: General – Women / Men
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Ichalkaranji: OBC – Women / Men
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Jalna: Scheduled Caste (SC) – Women
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Panvel: OBC – Women / Men
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Parbhani: General – Women / Men
The announcement has intensified political sparring, particularly over the BMC mayoral reservation, with opposition parties questioning both the categorisation and the transparency of the lottery process.
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