Mumbai: After a prolonged four-year hiatus, Mumbai is finally set to have a mayor again as the results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections are announced on Friday. The return of an elected civic body marks the end of a long interregnum during which India’s richest municipal corporation was run by an administrator appointed by the Maharashtra government. With the election results now unfolding, attention has turned to how the city’s “First Citizen” is chosen and what political arithmetic will determine who occupies the powerful ceremonial post.

The last person to hold the position of Mumbai mayor was United Shiv Sena leader Kishori Pednekar. She served as mayor from November 22, 2019, to March 8, 2022. Since then, the post has remained vacant due to the delay in civic elections, triggered by a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, ward delimitation issues, and prolonged political and legal tussles in Maharashtra.

Why Mumbai has been without a mayor

The BMC, which governs a city of over 12 million people and controls a budget larger than that of several Indian states, elects corporators for a five-year term. The last civic elections were held in February 2017. That term officially ended on March 7, 2022. However, fresh elections were not conducted on time.

In the absence of an elected body, the Maharashtra government appointed an administrator to run the civic body. Since then, the municipal commissioner—an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer—has been functioning as the administrator, exercising all powers of the corporation. While this arrangement ensured continuity of governance, it also meant that Mumbai lacked elected representatives at the ward level and a mayor to symbolically and politically represent the city.

The 2025–26 BMC elections, therefore, carry added significance. Beyond routine civic governance, they restore democratic representation to the country’s financial capital and reopen a key arena of political contestation in Maharashtra.

The role and importance of the Mumbai mayor

The mayor of Mumbai is often described as the “First Citizen” of the city. While the role is largely ceremonial and executive powers lie with the municipal commissioner, the mayor holds substantial political and symbolic influence. The mayor presides over meetings of the BMC, represents the city at official events, and often becomes the public face of civic issues.

Historically, the mayor’s post has been politically important, especially for regional parties like the Shiv Sena, which long considered control of the BMC—and by extension the mayoralty—as central to its identity and power base in Mumbai.

How is the Mumbai mayor elected?

Unlike a direct election by citizens, the Mumbai mayor is elected indirectly by the corporators of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The process begins with the BMC elections, which are held every five years. The city is divided into wards, and voters in each ward elect one corporator to represent them in the civic body. Once all corporators are elected and the results are declared, the next step is the formation of a majority within the BMC House.

The BMC has 227 elected corporators. To command a majority and effectively control the civic body, a party or alliance needs at least 114 seats. Once a party or a coalition crosses this majority mark, it is in a position to elect the mayor.

The election of the mayor is conducted through a vote among the elected corporators. Typically, the majority party or alliance nominates its candidate for the post, and given its numerical strength, the nominee is almost certain to win. In this sense, the process mirrors the way the Prime Minister or Chief Ministers are chosen—elected representatives vote to select one among themselves as the head, based on majority support.

The mayor’s term is usually two-and-a-half years, after which a new mayor is elected from among the corporators for the remaining half of the five-year term, often as part of political power-sharing arrangements within alliances.

The political context of the 2025–26 BMC elections

This year’s BMC elections are among the most politically charged in recent memory. A total of around 1,700 candidates—879 women and 821 men—are contesting across Mumbai’s wards, reflecting both the scale of the civic body and the high stakes involved.

The political landscape has been dramatically reshaped since the last BMC polls in 2017. The most significant change has been the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022, which led to the emergence of two rival factions—one led by Eknath Shinde and aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the other led by Uddhav Thackeray.

In the 2017 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party, winning 84 seats, while the BJP secured 82 seats. That election cemented the Shiv Sena’s dominance over Mumbai’s civic politics, even as relations with the BJP were strained.

The 2025–26 elections, however, are the first BMC polls since that split, making them a crucial test of political strength and legitimacy for both factions.

Alliances and contestants

The ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra—comprising the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena—is contesting the BMC elections together. However, the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the Mahayuti at the state level, has chosen to go solo in the civic polls.

On the other side, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which governed Maharashtra until 2022, has not contested as a single bloc. Instead, its constituents have taken different paths. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has allied with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, marking a significant political realignment between the Thackeray cousins. The Congress and its allies are contesting separately.

These shifting alliances have added layers of complexity to the contest and made the race for the mayor’s post particularly keen.

What exit polls suggest

Several exit polls released ahead of the counting have predicted an advantage for the BJP–Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance.

According to Axis My India, the Mahayuti alliance is projected to win between 131 and 151 seats, comfortably above the majority mark. The Shiv Sena (UBT)–MNS–NCP (SP) alliance is predicted to secure 58 to 68 seats, while the Congress-led alliance may get 12 to 16 seats. Others are projected to win between 6 and 12 seats.

Axis My India also projected a combined vote share of 42 per cent for the Mahayuti allies, with the BJP accounting for 28 per cent and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena for 14 per cent.

Another pollster, DV Research, forecast a narrower but still clear victory for the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance, projecting 107 to 122 seats for them. The Thackeray brothers’ alliance was estimated to get 68 to 83 seats, while the Congress-led alliance could win 18 to 25 seats.

The Janmat exit poll predicted an even stronger showing for the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance, with 138 seats, compared to 62 for the Shiv Sena (UBT)–MNS–NCP (SP) bloc.

Saam TV’s exit poll offered a more fragmented picture, projecting 84 seats for the BJP, 35 for its ally Shiv Sena, and 65 for Shiv Sena (UBT), with smaller numbers for other parties.

What happens next

Once the final results are declared and the composition of the BMC House is clear, the focus will shift to the election of the mayor. If a single party or alliance crosses the 114-seat threshold, the choice of mayor will largely be an internal decision. If the verdict is fractured, negotiations and alliances could determine who ultimately becomes Mumbai’s next “First Citizen.”

Either way, the election of a new mayor will symbolise the return of elected civic leadership to Mumbai after four long years—and mark a crucial chapter in the city’s political and administrative life.