With Wednesday’s mayoral and deputy mayoral elections at the BMC headquarters, nearly four years of administrative rule — the longest since the elected body’s term ended on March 7, 2022 — will finally conclude. BJP’s Ghatkopar corporator Ritu Tawde (53 years) is set to assume office as Mumbai’s 77th mayor without a contest, marking the party’s comeback after 44 years and formally ending the Shiv Sena’s nearly three-decade dominance of the country’s richest municipal corporation.
Mahayuti Alliance Secures Firm Control
In the 2026 BMC elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 of 227 wards, while its ally, the Eknath Shinde–led Shiv Sena, won 29. With four NCP corporators joining as a single group with Shinde Sena at Konkan Divisional Commissioner, the Mahayuti alliance’s strength has risen to 122, giving it firm control of the civic body. With the Uddhav Thackeray–led Shiv Sena opting not to contest, Tawde is set to be elected unopposed as Mumbai’s mayor on February 11, fulfilling the BJP’s long-cherished goal of installing its own leadership in the city. Meanwhile, Shinde Sena’s Dahisar corporator Sanjay Ghadi (56 years) is poised to assume office as deputy mayor.
Tawde will be just the second BJP leader to hold the mayoral post in Mumbai. The BJP’s first mayor, Dr. Prabhakar Pai, held office from 1982 to 1983, just a few years after the party was founded. The undivided Shiv Sena seized control of the BMC in 1997, winning 103 seats to the BJP’s 26, and refused to share the mayoral post or statutory committee chairmanships, leaving the BJP with only the special committees. After nearly three decades, the BJP is now poised to take full control of Mumbai’s richest civic body. On Tuesday, the area around the BMC headquarters was awash in BJP colors, a show of strength signaling the party’s historic political comeback ahead of the mayoral election.
BMC Headquarters Adorned in BJP Colors
Meanwhile, with the election of the mayor, nearly four years of administrative rule in the BMC — the longest in its 150-year history — will come to an end. Iqbal Singh Chahal was appointed state administrator on March 8, 2022, and was succeeded by Bhushan Gagrani in March 2024. During this period, the municipal corporation was run entirely by officials and bureaucrats. With the elected body now returning, Mumbai’s 26 wards and 227 corporators will resume their role, serving on statutory committees that oversee infrastructure, policy-making, and local development.
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