Who is Ritu Tawde, the BJP leader set to become new Mumbai mayor?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated senior corporator Ritu Tawde as its candidate for the upcoming Mumbai Mayor election, while its ally Shiv Sena has fielded Sanjay Ghadi for the deputy mayor position. 

The election will take place at 11:30 am on February 11 at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. This marks the return of a new mayor to Mumbai after a gap of nearly four years.

Tawde, a prominent BJP corporator, brings significant experience in municipal governance. She first represented Ward No. 127 in 2012, and later moved on to represent Ward No. 121 in Ghatkopar in 2017, followed by Ward No. 132 in the 2025 elections. 

Tawde has also served as the Chairperson of the Education Committee of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Her USP is that despite being a Maratha, she has been getting elected from a Gujarati dominated area like Ghatkopar.

As per the lottery system, the mayor post of India's richest civic body is reserved for the open category woman corporator. Along with Tawde, other names in consideration were Rajashree Shirvadkar, Sheetal Gambhir Desai, Harshita Narvekar, Alka Kerkar, Swapna Mhatre and Tejasvini Ghosalkar.