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How is Mumbai mayor elected? City to get First Citizen after four-year hiatus
The last person to hold the post of Mumbai mayor was the United Shiv Sena’s Kishori Pednekar, who held the position from November 2019 till March 2022.
Maharashtra's Mumbai will finally be getting a mayor after four years, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll results are being announced on Friday.
The last person to hold the post of Mumbai mayor was the United Shiv Sena’s Kishori Pednekar, who held the position from November 22, 2019, till March 8, 2022.
The last civic polls were held in February 2017. The five-year term of the corporators ended on March 7, 2022. Since then, the BMC has been administered by a Maharashtra government-appointed administrator. The municipal commissioner is currently holding that post.
How is the Mumbai mayor elected?
The BMC polls are held every five years to elect corporators. Once elected, the corporator represents the ward in the BMC house. To form a majority and elect the mayor of Mumbai, a party or alliance needs at least 114 seats.
Once the majority is formed, the party or alliance decides who gets the post. The process is similar to that by which the prime minister or the chief ministers are elected from the elected members of the concerned legislature.
This year, a total of 1,700 candidates (879 women and 821 men) are contesting the election.
The Mahayuti alliance, which is ruling the state of Maharashtra, is contesting without the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, which has gone solo. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents have also gone solo, with Shiv Sena (UBT) joining hands with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) of Raj Thackeray.
The undivided Shiv Sena put up a strong show in the 2017 BMC elections. The Shiv Sena won 84 seats in the 2017 polls, while the BJP won 82. This is the first BMC election since the 2022 split in Shiv Sena.
Exit poll suggestions
Several exit poll predictions have predicted a Mahayuti win in the BMC polls. According to Axis My India's predictions, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is poised to win 131-151 seats; the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS-NCP (SP) alliance 58-68 seats; the Congress-VBA-RSP alliance 12-16 seats; and others 6-12 seats.
The Axis My India also made vote-share predictions, projecting a 42% vote share for the Mahayuti allies (BJP 28%, Shiv Sena 14%). It predicted Shiv Sena (UBT) getting 24 per cent of the vote, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) 7 per cent, and NCP (SP) 1 per cent. The three parties fought the polls as allies.
Another pollster, DV Research, also projected a comfortable win for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, putting their expected seat tally between 107 and 122. The pollster projected 68-83 seats for the Thackeray brothers' alliance, 18-25 seats for the Congress-led alliance, and 8-15 seats for others.
According to the Janmat exit poll, the BJP and Shiv Sena are poised to win 138 seats; the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS-NCP (SP) alliance, 62 seats; the Congress-led alliance, 20 seats; and others, 7 seats. The poll has predicted a margin of error of plus or minus five seats.
The Saam TV exit poll predicted 84 seats for the BJP, 35 for its ally Shiv Sena, 65 for Shiv Sena (UBT), two for NCP (SP), and ten for MNS. It said the Congress-led alliance would get 23 seats, the NCP three, and others five.
