Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councilor Ritu Tawde was on Wednesday elected the 78th mayor of Mumbai, ending United Shiv Sena’s twenty-five-year-long hold on the post and marking a decisive change of guard in the administration of BMC, India’s richest civic body.
Tawde, who was elected councilor twice from a ward in suburban Ghatkopar last month, has become the second BJP councilor to hold the prestigious post in 44 years. Shiv Sena councilor Sanjay Ghadi, whose party is an ally of the BJP, has been elected deputy mayor.
Tawde (53) and Ghadi (57) were elected unopposed in the special general body meeting of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after the municipal elections held on January 15. Shiv Sena (UBT) and other opposition parties did not field candidates.
The post of mayor was reserved for a woman. The first BJP mayor in Mumbai was in 1982-83, when Prabhakar Pai held the post. Tawde’s election on Wednesday marked an end to the Thackeray family’s dominance in Mumbai’s civic politics.
Although the post of mayor is largely ceremonial, it holds immense political and symbolic importance in the identity-based politics of Mumbai.
Municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who has been serving as the state-appointed administrator of the country’s richest civic body since the tenure of the previous general assembly ends in March 2022, chaired the meeting.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar and other leaders of the BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena were present at the BMC headquarters.
Tawde assumed charge of his post amid sloganeering by councilors from both the ruling BJP-led coalition and the opposition. Tawde was elected from Ward 132 and Ghadi from Ward 5 in the elections held last month.
In the absence of opposition candidates, the mayoral election remained a mere formality and the election was held in the historic committee hall of BMC. Gagrani conducted the proceedings as the presiding officer.
The Congress councilors claimed that they were not allotted sufficient space to sit during the House proceedings. As a result, they stood during the proceedings and raised slogans during Tawde’s speech and later walked out of the House.
When Deputy Mayor Ghadi was giving his speech, Shiv Sena (UBT) councilors also staged a walkout. Before that, after the mayoral elections were over, Shiv Sena (UBT) group leader Kishori Pednekar had raised the question of the system and objected to the proceedings.
Speaking to the media, Pednekar said, “We have many senior councilors among us. Shraddha Jadhav (Shiv Sena-UBT) has been elected for the seventh time. Councilors from all parties will work together for the development of the city, but we have an objection to the commissioner being made to sit on the dais as the presiding officer instead of the senior councilor as per the rules.”
Tawde alleged that while she was giving her speech, some opposition councilors made objectionable comments at her.
Responding to a question while talking to reporters after the proceedings ended, Tawde said, “Objectionable comments were made about me, which shows his insensitivity towards women.”
The mayor said that it is inappropriate to make objectionable comments about women.
Tawde said that the opposition is more interested in creating ruckus rather than working for the citizens of Mumbai.
Earlier in the day, BJP and Shiv Sena councilors paid floral tributes to those martyred in the struggle to achieve statehood for Maharashtra at Hutatma Chowk in south Mumbai.
In the 227-member BMC elections held last month, the BJP emerged as the largest party with 89 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena won 29 seats. Thus the ruling coalition (with 118 seats) crossed the majority mark of 114.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, while its allies Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) won six and one seat respectively.
The undivided Shiv Sena led by the Thackeray family had ruled the civic body for 25 years since 1997.
Tawde, who was originally in the Congress, joined the BJP in 2012 and was elected councilor from Ghatkopar constituency the same year. She has also served as the chairperson of the education committee of BMC.
During her previous tenure, she was in the news for raising the issue of ‘objectionable’ clothes on mannequins in shops.
In the 2017 municipal corporation elections, Tawde lost to the Shiv Sena candidate from Ghatkopar East. After joining BJP, she held important positions in the women’s wing of the party.
She has conducted awareness campaigns on cleanliness and hygiene and supported self-employment initiatives under central and state level programmes. Tawde has been vocal on issues related to women’s safety and dignity and has led protests against incidents affecting school students and local residents.