Shiv Sena (UBT) protests BMC mayoral reservation from ‘open category’

A political row has erupted in Maharashtra after the state government announced reservation categories for mayoral posts in 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The draw was conducted on Thursday, 22 January at Mantralaya in the presence of minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) openly opposed the decision to reserve the BMC mayor’s post for women from the open category. Former BMC mayor Kishori Pednekar, from the Thackeray faction, accused the ruling coalition of “tailoring the reservation system for political gain” and claimed that the move discriminates against OBC, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups.

Pednekar noted that the BMC mayoral post had been reserved for the open category in both 2019 and 2022. Under the rotation system, she argued, it should have gone to the OBC category this time. She further alleged that new rules had been deliberately framed so that SC reservation would apply only if three or more SC corporators were elected. In Mumbai, only two SC corporators have been elected — both from the Thackeray camp — thereby excluding the category from consideration.

She also claimed that during the draw, no slips were included for either the OBC or SC categories for the BMC slot. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Bala Nandgaonkar backed Pednekar’s objections and criticised the process.

In response, Misal rejected the allegations, stating that the reservations were declared strictly according to the rules. “Pednekar is in the Opposition, so she has the right to make allegations,” Misal said.

The BJP’s Mumbai chief Amit Satam also defended the process, insisting there was “no irregularity” and expressing pride that the next BMC mayor will be a woman. He added that the election process would be completed within two to three days.

However, political uncertainty remains. The Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction has demanded that the BMC mayoral term be split under the “two-and-a-half-year formula”. With 227 seats in the BMC, securing a majority of 114 is difficult for the BJP, which has 89 corporators. The Shinde camp has 29 corporators and has put forward its own claim to the mayoral post. Meanwhile, pressure from the BJP’s central leadership is reportedly mounting on Shinde. The Uddhav Thackeray faction holds 65 seats, the MNS six, and Congress 24.

During the draw for all 29 corporations, the sequence followed was: ST, SC, OBC and finally open category. In Thane — deputy chief minister Shinde’s home turf — the mayoral post went to the SC category. Latur and Jalna will have SC women mayors. Kalyan–Dombivli will have an ST mayor.

A total of eight mayoral posts were reserved for OBCs, split evenly between men and women. Jalgaon, Chandrapur, Ahilyanagar and Akola will have OBC women mayors, while Ulhasnagar, Kolhapur, Panvel and Ichalkaranji went to OBC men.

Of the 17 open-category mayoral posts, nine have been reserved for women, including Mumbai (BMC), Dhule, Navi Mumbai, Nanded–Waghala, Nagpur, Nashik, Malegaon, Mira–Bhayandar and Pune. The remaining open-category seats — in Amravati, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Parbhani, Vasai–Virar, Sangli–Miraj–Kupwad, Solapur, Pimpri–Chinchwad and Bhiwandi — are not reserved for women.