79 Mumbai corporators face poll challenges as political heirs, former corporators move court

MUMBAI: Former BMC corporators, daughter of a sitting Shiv Sena MP & a BJP party worker who lost the latest BMC polls have a wafer thin margin of seven votes are among the 79 who have challenged the civic election results off various corporator wards. BMC elections were held in January 2026.The former BMC Corporators include Congress candidate Sheetal Mhatre, Shiv Sena’s Rajul Patel, Sanjay Nana Ambole and Raju Pednekar while Deepti Waikar Potnis, daughter of Mumbai North West MP Ravindra Waikar who also contested on a Shiv Sena ticket led by deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Others include Priya Sarvankar Gurav, daughter of former MLA from Shinde led Shiv Sena -Sada Sarvankar who contested against Shiv Sena’s Vishakha Raut and lost.The information was provided by the BMC’s legal department to RTI activist Anil Galgali under the Right to Information Act.Galgali in an application on May 12, had sought detailed information from the civic body regarding election petitions filed against elected corporators in the municipal elections.“The election of as many as 79 corporators in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Elections 2026 has been challenged before the court, with several election petitions currently pending adjudication. One petition has already been dismissed by the lower court, while hearings in the remaining cases are ongoing,” said Galgali based on the information that he received. An election petition filed by Mohammad Anwar Abdullah Shaikh from Ward 119 ‘S’ against Shiv Sena corporator Rajesh Sonawale and other candidates has already been dismissed by the court.Jyoti Anil Upadhyay, a BJP candidate who contested from ward 90 lost by seven votes to Congress candidate Tulip Miranda. Miranda, currently a civic standing committee member had her husband Brian Miranda win the seat in the year 2012. In the year 2017, when the seat was reserved for a woman candidate Tulip won the seat for the first time