How Will Mumbai Get Its New Mayor? All Eyes On Mayor Reservation As Maharashtra Prepares Lottery Draw

With civic election results declared, Maharashtra is now set for the next crucial political exercise — deciding mayoral reservations across all 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Urban Development Department will finalise the reservations through a lottery draw scheduled for Thursday at 11 am.

The lottery will determine which municipal corporation will get a mayor from which category, General, OBC, Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), or women, setting the stage for intense political manoeuvring across the state.

Mayor Reservation to Be Finalised Through Lottery Draw

The lottery process will be conducted in the council chamber of the Urban Development Ministry under the chairmanship of Minister of State Madhuri Misal. Once the draw is completed, it will be clear whether the mayoral posts in Mumbai and the remaining 28 cities will be reserved for men or women, and under which social category.

In the recently concluded municipal election results, the BJP-led alliance secured a majority in nearly 22 of the 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai. Congress is expected to claim the mayor’s post in six civic bodies, while in Malegaon, Sheikh Asif’s party, ISLAM, could form the mayoral leadership. Despite these numbers, the reservation lottery has the potential to significantly alter political equations.

Mumbai Mayor Post in Sharp Focus

The mayoral reservation will be decided through a rotation, or round-robin, system. Under this system, mayoral posts rotate among General, SC, ST, OBC, and women categories. In Mumbai, the mayor’s post was reserved for the General category in the previous term, meaning it will not be included in this year’s lottery.

As a result, Mumbai’s mayor is expected to be selected from among SC, ST, or OBC categories. Only corporators belonging to the reserved category announced through the lottery will be eligible to contest the mayoral election, which will be decided through voting by corporators.

BMC, the country’s richest municipal corporation, remains the biggest political prize. While the BJP–Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance has broken Uddhav Thackeray’s long-standing political dominance in the civic body, the reservation lottery still keeps the Thackeray camp hopeful.

If the mayor’s post is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category, it could pose challenges for the BJP–Shinde alliance, as neither party has an ST corporator elected to the BMC. In contrast, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has two elected ST corporators, potentially giving it an advantage. The final impact on each political party will become clear only after the lottery draw, following which parties can formally announce their mayoral candidates.