Ritu Tawde Set to Become Mumbai Mayor as BJP Returns After 44 Years

After more than four decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to capture the Mayor’s post in Mumbai, signalling a major political shift in the leadership of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) , India’s richest civic body. BJP corporator Ritu Tawde filed her nomination for the Mayor’s post on Saturday, effectively ending the long-standing dominance of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in Mumbai’s civic administration.

The BJP’s ally, the Shiv Sena faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde , has nominated corporator Sanjay Ghadi for the Deputy Mayor’s position. Both candidates submitted their nomination papers at the municipal secretary’s office in the presence of senior leaders of the ruling Mahayuti alliance , including Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha , Mumbai BJP president Amit Satam , and former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale .

Saturday marked the last day for filing nominations for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts. The elections are scheduled for February 11 , which is also the final date for withdrawal of nominations. In the civic elections held on January 15 , the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 227-member BMC with 89 seats , while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena secured 29 seats . Together, the Mahayuti alliance commands 118 corporators , comfortably crossing the majority mark of 114 required to secure the top civic posts.

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) , which governed the BMC continuously from 1997 to 2022 , won 65 seats . Its allies the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) secured six and one seats respectively.

Ritu Tawde, who represents Ghatkopar East (Ward 132) , began her political career with the Congress before joining the BJP in 2012 , the same year she was first elected as a corporator. During her earlier term, she served as Chairperson of the BMC Education Committee and actively raised issues related to local infrastructure, water supply, and public safety . She had earlier drawn attention for raising objections to the display of objectionable clothing on mannequins in shops.

According to a statement issued by Shiv Sena leaders, Sanjay Ghadi , a corporator from Ward 5 , will serve as Deputy Mayor for 15 months , with the tenure to be split to allow more corporators an opportunity to hold the post. Ghadi is among senior leaders who earlier belonged to the Uddhav Thackeray faction before joining the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Addressing the media, Amit Satam said Mumbai would get a BJP Mayor after 44 years , recalling that Prabhakar Pai was the last BJP Mayor in 1982–83 . He said the Mahayuti alliance aimed to free the BMC from corruption and asserted that the alliance already had the backing of 118 corporators.

Meanwhile, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) criticised the BJP’s choice of Mayor. Party spokesperson Clyde Crasto said selecting a former Congress leader for the top civic post sent a wrong message and amounted to sidelining long-serving BJP corporators who had worked for the party over the years.

The BMC, administered by a state-appointed administrator since March 2022 , has been allocated a budget of ₹74,450 crore for 2025–26 larger than the annual budgets of several small Indian states underscoring the immense political and administrative significance of control over Mumbai’s civic body.