Mumbai: Shiv Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday, December 27, has strongly replied to to remarks made by AIMIM's national spokesperson Waris Pathan, over who can become the mayor of Mumbai. Pathan had questioned, "Why can't a Khan, Pathan, Sheikh, Qureshi, Syed become the Mumbai mayor?"
Responding to Pathan's remarks, Raut said that elections should be fought democratically and decided by numbers. “Fight the election, win a majority and bring in 110 seats," the Sena UBT MP said. He further added, "We have always maintained that Mumbai’s mayor should be a Marathi-speaking person", adding that if Waris considers himself a Mumbaikar, he should demonstrate public support through the electoral process.
What did AIMIM's national spokesperson, Waris Pathan, say?
While speaking to news agency ANI, Waris Pathan spoke on the upcoming Municipal Corporation Elections, where he questioned, saying, "Why can't a Khan, Pathan, Sheikh, Qureshi, Syed become the mayor?"
He claimed that one day a Hijab-wearing woman will also become a mayor. He added, "Muslims have been leaders in the nation already... They (Maharashtra government) have no response to the lack of development and farmers' suicide... They simply want to spread polarisation..."
Zeeshan Siddique On Waris Pathan's statement
NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique said that anyone can be sent to the position of Mayor, while their caste or religion should not matter. He expressed belief that the city needs a person who believes in getting things done.
Further adding, he said, "The mayoral chair should go to someone who has faith in work... If you look around Mumbai, the condition of the city’s roads and infrastructure is poor. Even though BMC receives funds worth thousands of crores, the work does not get done."
BMC Elections 2026
The elections for 227 seats of BMC will be held on January 15, while the counting of votes will be held on January 16. The last polls for the 227 seats were held in February 2017. The BMC elections become crucial as the Mahayuti secured a landslide majority in the 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, winning 207 president posts in the local bodies. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi could come up with a collective tally of 44.
In the BMC polls, the total number of registered voters stands at 1,03,44,315 across all wards, of which 55,16,707 are male voters, 48,26,509 are female voters, while 1,077 voters are listed under the ‘other’ category.
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