Nearly one in four winning candidates in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) 2026 polls have declared criminal cases against themselves, while close to four-fifths are crorepatis, according to an analysis by Election Watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR, which studied affidavits of all 227 winning candidates, said 54 winners, or 24 per cent, have declared criminal cases, while 29 candidates, or 13 per cent, face serious criminal charges. The data was compiled by Maharashtra Election Watch, based on candidates’ self-sworn affidavits filed during the civic polls.
Party-wise analysis showed that 33 per cent of the winners from the BJP have declared criminal cases, followed by 24 per cent from Shiv Sena and 15 per cent from Shiv Sena (UBT), the report said.
The financial profile of candidates also indicated a strong presence of wealthy contestants. Of the 227 winners, about 79 per cent, or 180, declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore, with the average assets of winning candidates pegged at ₹7.18 crore, ADR said.
BJP leader Ritu Tawde took charge as the 78th Mayor of Mumbai on Wednesday (with Sanjay Ghadi of the Shiv Sena as her deputy in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at the BMC headquarters in Maharashtra’s Mumbai.
‘Eighth woman mayor’
Tawde is the city’s eighth woman Mayor and 78th Mayor overall. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party, with 89 corporators elected, while its ally, Shiv Sena, won 29 seats. The two parties crossed the majority mark of 114 in the 227-member BMC house. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats. Following the results, a reservation lottery was drawn in which the Mayor’s seat was reserved for a woman.
Among parties, 76 per cent of BJP winners, 83 per cent from Shiv Sena (UBT), 93 per cent from Shiv Sena and 92 per cent from the Indian National Congress were crorepatis, it added.
The report further noted that 60 per cent of the elected corporators are women, while about 70 per cent fall in the 41-70 age group. Around half of the winners have graduate-level or higher educational qualifications.
The top three winning candidates with high assets are as follows: Naravekar Suresh of the BJP, who won from ward 226, is the richest winner with a declared wealth of ₹124 Crore. Suresh is closely followed by Sharma Chandran Chiittranjan from the BJP with over 84 Crore declared wealth.
Nearly one in four winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Kanade Nirmiti Bibhishan, the Shiv Sena candidate from ward number 133, is the winner with the lowest assets declared, ₹54 thousand in the affidavit.
