BJP Fields Ritu Tawde For Mumbai Mayor, Sena Names Sanjay Ghadi As Dy Mayor Candidate

Mumbai, Feb 7: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced corporator Ritu Tawde as its candidate for the Mumbai mayor’s post, while ally Shiv Sena named Sanjay Ghadi as its nominee for the deputy mayor election.

BJP leader Amit Satam declared Tawde’s candidature, while Shiv Sena leader Rahul Shewale announced Ghadi’s name at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters.

Tawde represents Ward 132, while Ghadi was elected from Ward 5 in the January 15 civic polls. Shiv Sena secretary Sanjay More said Ghadi will serve as deputy mayor for a 15-month term.

Ghadi is among senior former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators who later joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The party has decided to split the deputy mayor’s tenure to provide an opportunity to four of its corporators.

In the 227-member BMC elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, while Shiv Sena secured 29 seats. With a combined strength of 118 corporators, the ruling alliance has crossed the halfway mark of 114 and is well placed to secure the mayor’s post.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), which ruled the civic body for 25 years since 1997, won 65 seats. Its allies—the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction)—won six and one seat, respectively.

Among other parties, the Congress won 24 seats, AIMIM eight, the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) three, and the Samajwadi Party two seats. Two independents also won in the high-stakes election held after a nine-year gap.

The BMC commissioner has been functioning as the state government-appointed administrator since March 7, 2022, following the expiry of the previous civic body’s term. The BMC, India’s richest civic body, has a budget of ₹74,450 crore for 2025–26, higher than that of several smaller states. (Agencies)