Mumbai BMC Elections 2025: Why India's Richest Civic Body Election Commands National Attention

Mumbai:

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are expected to be announced shortly. Despite being primarily focused on Mumbai city and its suburbs, these elections command national attention due to the politics, financial implications, campaign strategies, and political messaging involved.

Maharashtra is conducting local body elections after a three-year hiatus, with the BMC election being the most closely monitored. The previous local elections were held in 2017 for selecting members of municipal councils, nagar panchayats, and municipal corporations.

Originally scheduled for 2022, these elections faced delays due to ward delimitation and reservation issues. In September this year, the Supreme Court mandated that local body elections must be completed by January 31.

As Asia's richest civic body, the BMC's latest budget estimates expenditure for this financial year at nearly Rs 75,000 crore. This figure is approximately four times larger than Bengaluru's civic body, which spends around Rs 20,000 crore annually. This substantial budget has earned BMC its reputation as one of Asia's wealthiest municipal corporations.

The BMC serves more than 1.3 crore residents across 483 square kilometers. Its jurisdiction spans from South Mumbai's affluent neighborhoods to popular suburbs like Bandra and Juhu—home to prominent Hindi film industry stars—and extends to distant suburbs such as Dahisar and Deonar.

While the BMC elections primarily address civic issues in Mumbai and its suburbs, they feature extensive political campaigns with messaging that resonates nationwide. Mumbai itself represents a microcosm of India, making these elections noteworthy even for those without direct stakes.

This election comes in the aftermath of the Shiv Sena split, a party that had traditionally dominated the Mumbai civic body. Following the 2017 division, the faction led by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde secured the highest number of corporators.

In this election cycle, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray are also playing significant roles.

After the initial Shiv Sena split in 2005, Raj Thackeray established the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which has been an important player in BMC elections. For this election, the Thackeray cousins have announced they will contest together—fulfilling a long-standing wish of many Shiv Sena veterans. This family reunion has transformed the election into a high-stakes contest.

While civic issues typically dominate local elections, BMC elections have also been contested on linguistic and regional pride platforms. Both Shiv Sena and MNS have raised these issues in the current campaign. MNS chief Raj Thackeray has called for vigilance, describing this as the "last crucial election" for the Marathi community.

The BJP has long aspired to control the BMC, making it a priority project for the party leadership. In 2017, they nearly succeeded with 82 seats, but the mayor's position went to the then-undivided Shiv Sena, which had secured 84 seats. This time, the BJP aims to win the majority of corporator seats.

After Eknath Shinde's rebellion, when he departed with most Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs, his party maintained its position in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections last year. However, questions remain about whether the Sena-BJP alliance will be effective and if Shinde's influence extends from his Thane stronghold to Mumbai.

Following Zohran Mamdani's election as New York Mayor, social media users have drawn comparisons between New York and Mumbai, despite the Mumbai Mayor's position being largely ceremonial. Unlike New York's direct mayoral election, Mumbai residents elect corporators who form an electoral college to select the mayor.

Mamdani's victory has sparked communal commentary in Mumbai, with the city's BJP chief creating controversy by stating, "If someone tries to impose a 'Khan' on Mumbai, it will not be tolerated! Wake up, Mumbaikars!"

The BMC is vital for Mumbai as it governs all aspects of daily life and remains consistently newsworthy. The civic body manages roads, public transport, power supply, water services, sanitation, public health, urban amenities, education, and fire services for India's financial capital. Its functioning impacts not just Mumbai but has national and global implications.