Who is Ritu Tawde, two-time corporator named BJP’s mayoral candidate for BMC

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced Ghatkopar corporator Ritu Tawde as its mayoral candidate for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with the party expressing confidence of securing the post based on its numerical strength in the civic House. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest municipal body, has declared a budget of ₹74,427 crore for the financial year 2025–26.

The announcement was made by Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam at the BMC headquarters, in the presence of senior party leaders and corporators. The development comes as the BJP–Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance prepares to contest the key civic positions in Mumbai.

Who is Ritu Tawde

Ritu Tawde is a two-time corporator from Ghatkopar and currently represents Ward 132. She joined the BJP from the Congress in 2012 and is regarded within the party as a senior corporator and an aggressive Marathi face. Tawde represents Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, a region the BJP has been keen to give representation to in the city’s top civic post.


Her name had figured among the BJP’s frontrunners for the mayor’s post, along with Sheetal Gambhir, Rajashree Shirwadkar, Asha Marathe, Priti Satam and Shrikala Pillai. The party has stated that the mayor would be a Marathi-speaking person, which strengthened Tawde’s candidature. In the run-up to the announcement, her name had also been doing the rounds along with that of Sion corporator Rajeshree Shirwadkar.

Reacting to her nomination, Tawde called it a “historic moment” and said she was grateful to the party leadership for entrusting her with the responsibility.

Satam said the new dispensation would work towards making Mumbai a corruption-free city, adding that the alliance would govern with the blessings and support of Mumbaikars.

Meanwhile, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena announced Sanjay Ghadi as its candidate for the post of deputy mayor, a position that carries a term of one-and-a-half years.

The BJP–Shiv Sena alliance has asserted that even if the Opposition fields candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, it is confident of winning both positions, citing its numerical strength of 118 corporators in the 227-member BMC House.