Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Election: One In Four Winners Face Criminal Cases

New Delhi: Nearly one in four candidates elected to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared criminal cases against them, while a large majority are crorepatis, according to a study by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch.

The report is based on an analysis of the affidavits submitted by all 227 winning candidates in the recent BMC elections. It shows that 54 councillors, or 24 percent of the total, have disclosed criminal cases. Among them, 13 percent face serious charges.

Party-wise data indicate that 33 percent of the elected representatives from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pending criminal cases. Among Shiv Sena winners, 24 percent have declared criminal cases, while 15 percent of those from the Shiv Sena (UBT) faction have similar disclosures.

The financial details in the affidavits also show a high concentration of wealth among the elected members. As many as 180 councillors, accounting for 79 percent of the total, have declared assets worth more than one crore rupees. The average assets of the newly elected representatives stand at 7.18 crore rupees.

Among BJP winners, 76 percent are crorepatis. In the Congress, the figure stands at 92 percent. In the Shiv Sena’s Shinde faction, 93 percent of the elected members have assets above one crore rupees, while 83 percent of those from the Uddhav Thackeray faction fall in the same category.

The BMC elections were held after a delay of 34 months. The previous five-year term had ended in February 2022, but fresh polls were postponed due to a seat reservation case pending before the Supreme Court. The court later directed that all pending local body elections in Maharashtra, including the BMC, must be completed before January 31, 2026.

The last BMC elections before this were conducted in 2017.