The reservation lottery for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has declared the mayor’s post under the open category, with the seat reserved for a woman. The development comes as a setback for Uddhav Thackeray, who was expecting a reserved category.
Open Category Lottery Decided for Mumbai Mayor, Female Mayor Confirmed
Mumbai: A major political development has emerged regarding the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the most powerful local body in Maharashtra's capital, Mumbai. The mayoral reservation lottery has been announced, with Mumbai drawing an open category. This means that it will not be mandatory to be a member of a reserved category for the mayoral position. However, the lottery results have confirmed that the next BMC mayor will be a woman.
The open category draw in the lottery has dealt a major blow to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. After the vote count, he had stated that if God willed, the mayor would be from his party. He had hoped that this time, reservations for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) or a reserved category would be available, strengthening his political strategy. However, the lottery results have dashed his hopes.
Political buzz grows over BMC mayor post after Poll results; Power-sharing formula in focus
With the Mumbai lottery drawing an open category, the Mahayuti has become the focus of political discussion. Questions are being raised about who will become the Mayor of the BMC and which party will receive it. According to sources, the final decision on the mayoral post will be taken after discussions between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction). Internal discussions have intensified within the Mahayuti alliance regarding this post.
The reservation list for a total of 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra has also been released. Major municipal corporations like Brihanmumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati, Solapur, and Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad are included in the general category. While women's reservation has been implemented under the general category in Bhiwandi-Nizampur and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
Thane (SC), Kalyan-Dombivali (ST men), Latur, and Jalna (SC women) are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Ulhasnagar, Ahilyanagar, Akola, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Ichalkaranji, and Panvel have been included for the OBC category, with women's reservations also in place in many of these areas.
BMC Towers Over MCD, KMC in Wealth: Here are India’s 10 richest Municipal Corporations
The BMC mayoral lottery has sparked a flurry of activity in Mumbai politics. With the election of a female mayor confirmed, all parties are now busy working out their own political alignments. In the coming days, it will become clear who holds the key to power in Mumbai.
