Office-bearer raises red flag as relatives of leaders queue up for BMC election tickets, insider warns civic polls must not become a family business
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election is to be held on January 15, 2026. Pic/Ashish Raje
Discontent is growing within the BJP over demands by family members of party leaders for election tickets ahead of the upcoming Mumbai civic polls.
It has been reliably learnt that several relatives of BJP MLAs, office-bearers, and senior leaders are seeking tickets for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, triggering resentment among grassroots workers.
The move has not gone down well with party karyakartas, and even some office-bearers, who feel loyal workers are being sidelined in favour of family members of influential leaders.
The issue has now been formally raised within the party. Vivekanand Gupta, secretary of the BJP’s Mumbai unit, has written to the party’s election committee for Mumbai, flagging concerns that the upcoming BMC elections should not turn into a “family business”.
“It is not appropriate to ignore deserving grassroots workers and grant tickets to relatives such as wives, sons, daughters or grandchildren of party office-bearers, MLAs, and other public representatives,” Gupta told mid-day.
When this newspaper contacted BJP Mumbai president Ameet Satam for a response, he did not reply to messages.
Gupta has also raised concerns over the alleged misuse of changes in ward reservation categories to accommodate family members of leaders. He said BJP workers who have stood by the party for years should be given priority, rather than relatives taking advantage of seats shifting from general to women, OBC or other reserved categories.
“Using reservation changes as a pretext to accommodate family members demoralises long-serving karyakartas who work at the ground level with the hope of getting a fair opportunity to contest elections,” Gupta said in his letter.
A few months ago, a draw was held for Mumbai’s 227 civic wards. Under the new framework, 61 wards are reserved for OBCs, 15 for Scheduled Castes, two for Scheduled Tribes and 74 for women in the general category, while 75 wards remain open. Overall, 114 of the 227 municipal wards are reserved for women across categories.
The BMC elections are scheduled for January 15, 2026, with vote counting on January 16. The previous five-year term of the civic body ended in February 2022.
The BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will contest the polls as an alliance. According to party sources, the BJP is seeking around 140 seats, while the Shinde Sena is demanding over 100 seats. Seat-sharing talks are ongoing, though Satam has earlier stated that a consensus has been reached on 150 seats, with the remaining differences expected to be resolved soon.
For nearly 25 years, the undivided Shiv Sena and BJP ruled the BMC together before their alliance ended in 2017. In the last civic polls, Shiv Sena won 84 seats, BJP 82, Congress 29, NCP 31, MNS seven and others 15.
227
No. of electoral wards in city
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
