Women will head 15 municipal corporations in Maharashtra over the next two-and-a-half years following the announcement of mayoral reservations by the state government on Thursday. Major urban centres such as Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur and Nashik figure prominently among the cities earmarked for women mayors.
The Urban Development Department (UDD) conducted a draw of lots for mayoral posts across 29 municipal corporations, in accordance with the rotational reservation policy. The process was held under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Urban Development Madhuri Misal and was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Dr K H Govindrajan, officials said.
Of the 29 civic bodies, 15 mayoral posts have been reserved for women across various categories, signalling a renewed emphasis on gender representation in urban local governance.
According to official details, one mayoral post has been reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category—Kalyan-Dombivli. As per existing norms, there is no separate reservation for ST women.
Three mayoral posts have been allotted to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, including two reserved for women—Jalna and Latur—while Thane falls under the general SC category.
Eight mayoral posts have been reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC), of which four are earmarked for women. Jalgaon, Chandrapur, Ahilyanagar and Akola will have OBC women mayors, while Panvel, Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur and Ulhasnagar fall under the OBC general category.
Among the remaining civic bodies, nine mayoral posts have been reserved for women under the general category. These include Pune, Dhule, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nanded-Waghala, Malegaon, Mira-Bhayandar, Nagpur and Nashik. The other eight corporations—Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Amravati, Vasai-Virar, Solapur, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Bhiwandi-Nizampur—will have mayors from the open general category.
Officials said the reservation exercise is aimed at promoting inclusive governance and ensuring greater participation of women and marginalised communities in city administration during the upcoming mayoral term.
Mumbai mayoral seat reserved for women
In Mumbai, the mayoral post has been reserved for the open women category, clearing the way for political parties to finalise their candidates. With the reservation lottery completed, parties can now submit their letters of intent to the municipal secretary of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Under UDD regulations, mayoral seats in urban local bodies are rotated among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, the open category and women. The lottery for all 29 municipal corporations was conducted at 11 am on Thursday, following the conclusion of recent civic elections.
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