Reality check for Mumbai civic polls: In 3 years, 99% of development funds went to wards under ruling alliance
Rema Smith
As Mumbai heads towards civic elections on January 15, the dice has already been loaded in favour of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance to replicate its dominating performance in local body polls across the rest of Maharashtra.
Over the past three years, more than 99 per cent of funds allotted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for development work went to wards in constituencies represented by Mahayuti lawmakers, an investigation by The Indian Express of records obtained under the Right To Information (RTI) Act has found.
The records show that between February 2023 and October 2025, more than Rs 1,490.66 crore was sanctioned by the BMC for civic development, such as road repairs, drainage upgrades, health facilities and neighbourhood beautification.
Of this, Rs 1,476.92 crore went to areas under MLAs, MLCs and MPs from the ruling alliance of BJP, Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the records show. BJP lawmakers got the lion’s share (Rs 1076.7 crore), followed by those from Shinde’s Sena (Rs 372.7 crore).
In sharp contrast (see charts), only Rs 13.74 crore, or 0.9 per cent, was granted to the Opposition during this period — and that too to one legislator from the Congress, Amin Patel, who represents Mumbadevi, a constituency in South Mumbai with a sizable population of minorities. Of the rest, all the ten MLAs from the Shiv Sena (UBT), two others from the Congress and one from SP received no funds at all.
This imbalance is the continuation of a pattern first reported by The Indian Express in January 2024, when RTI data revealed that the entire Rs 500 crore disbursed in the initial phase of the temporary policy had gone exclusively to ruling-party MLAs.