Ravindra Chavan elected Maharashtra BJP president ahead of crucial Mumbai civic body polls

Ravindra Chavan, a close aide of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, was unanimously elected as Maharashtra's BJP president on Tuesday, ahead of the high stakes Mumbai civic body polls. He succeeded Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who held the post since August 2022. He became the 12th president of the party's state unit.

Chavan has played a key organisational role during the expansion of the BJP in semi-urban pockets such as Karjat, Badlapur, and Matheran. His performance earned him a place in the state cabinet, and he was also made the guardian minister of Palghar and Raigad districts.

"Today, a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party can reach the position of state president of Maharashtra, and this is the strength of the organization. I assure you that I will always strive to ensure that every BJP worker gains such strength," said Chavan after clinching the position.


In the 2017 Mumbai civic polls, the BJP won 82 seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 84. Following the 2022 split, around 50 former corporators have joined the Shinde camp.

Chavan's political journey
Chavan, a prominent face from Thane district, began his political career in 2007 when he was elected as a corporator in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Despite the Congress-NCP alliance holding power, he became the chairman of the standing committee.

In 2009, he was nominated as the BJP candidate for the Dombivli assembly seat and won. He was re-elected in 2014 and served as a minister of state overseeing various municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, including Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, and Panvel.

In 2019, Chavan won his third term as MLA and was credited for playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the formation of the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis government in 2022. He was subsequently inducted as a cabinet minister with the PWD portfolio and appointed guardian minister for Sindhudurg.

Chavan won his fourth consecutive term from Dombivli in 2024 and is now poised to take over the reins of the state unit of the BJP.