The much-awaited reservation lottery for mayoral posts in 29 Municipal Corporations across Maharashtra was conducted on Thursday at Mantralaya under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Urban Development, Madhuri Misal. The lottery will determine reservations for the mayoral positions for the next two-and-a-half years and has paved the way for political parties to begin the process of selecting their candidates, setting the stage for keenly contested mayoral elections.
Categories Determined by Lottery
The lottery determines whether the post will be reserved for categories such as General, Women, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Once the reservation category is declared, eligible candidates are required to file their nominations, following which the mayor is elected by the elected corporators.
Women’s Reservation Dominates
According to the reservation list announced after the draw of lots, 15 of the 29 municipal corporations have had their mayoral posts reserved for women from various categories.
Reservation Distribution Across Categories
As per the details of the reservation, only one mayoral post has been reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category across the state. As per existing rules, no post was reserved for the ST women category. Three mayoral posts were reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC), of which two have been earmarked for SC women. Eight posts were reserved for the OBC category, including four for OBC women. Among the remaining 17 municipal corporations, nine mayoral posts have been reserved for General Women, while eight posts fall under the Open (General) category.
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Major Cities Get Women Mayors
The draw also resulted in eight major civic bodies — Pune, Dhule, Nanded-Waghala, Navi Mumbai, Malegaon, Mira-Bhayander, Nagpur and Nashik — having women mayors from the general category.
Opposition Alleges Lottery Bias
However, the process triggered a political controversy, with leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress alleging that the lottery was “match-fixed” and conducted in a biased and opaque manner. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar staged a walkout during the proceedings, accusing the government of changing the rules without prior notice and discriminating against OBC and Scheduled Tribe communities.
Shiv Sena Demands ST Reservation
Pednekar claimed that since the last two Mumbai mayors were from the general category, the post should have been reserved for OBC this time. She also alleged that the ST category was deliberately excluded from the lottery system. “We strongly condemn the way the lottery procedure was conducted. The process was fixed,” she alleged.
Mumbai Mayoral Post Disappointment
The lottery outcome also dashed the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s hopes of securing the Mumbai mayoral post. The party was banking on the possibility of the post being reserved for an ST woman, as both eligible candidates in that category belonged to the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction.
Congress Joins Allegations
Echoing similar concerns, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the entire lottery system was fixed and lacked transparency.
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Government Rejects Allegations
Responding sharply to the allegations, Minister of State for Urban Development Madhuri Misal rejected the charges, asserting that the entire process was conducted strictly in accordance with the law. She said the opposition’s reaction stemmed from dissatisfaction over the outcome rather than any procedural lapses. “The procedure was completed as per the rules. Some leaders are unhappy only because the results did not go in their favour,” Misal said.
Reservation Break-up of Mayoral Posts
Open Women: Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Malegaon, Dhule, Nanded-Waghala
Open (General): Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Parbhani
Scheduled Caste (SC): Thane
Scheduled Tribe (ST): Kalyan-Dombivli
SC Women: Latur, Jalna
ST Women: None
OBC: Ulhasnagar, Panvel, Kolhapur, Ichalkaranji
OBC Women: Akola, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar
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