Prior to that, the BMC had seen only one female Mayor since 1931 – the year when the designation of Mayor was officially introduced in the civic body. Prior to that, this post was called as Corporation President (1887-1931) and Chairperson (1873-1887).
Mumbai’s first female mayor and beyond…
According to the civic records, Mumbai’s first female Mayor was social worker turned politician, Sulochana Modi who hailed from the Congress party was elected in 1956, when she served for a year. During her tenure, Modi was known for expanding the BMC’s jurisdiction by including the extended suburban belt which includes the modern day Bandra to Dahisar area in the western suburbs and Kurla to Mulund in the eastern suburbs under civic body’s administration. It was also during this tenure Mumbai’s major hydropower and potable water supply project which is presently known as the Vaitarna Scheme was conceived and the execution work of this project was started the next year. This project involved creation of the Vaitarna Dam which is a significant part of Mumbai’s water security. After her tenure as the Mayor of Mumbai, Modi continued her stint as a social worker and in 1973 – she was conferred with the Padma Shri award by the government of India.
After Modi’s term got over in 1957, the BMC didn’t see any female Mayor for 37 years and it was only in 1994, when Congress’s Nirmala Prabhavalkar became the second female Mayor of the maximum city.
After her tenure, Prabhavalkar became the chief functionary of centre for study of social change (CSSC) and was also part of the National Commission for Women (NCW).
“The period between early and mid 20th century didn’t see many women leaders entering urban politics since the administrative set up inside all the major political parties were patriarchal in nature. Even though women party workers were there, however, they didn’t get a stable platform,” Dr. Surendra Jondhale – political analyst told the Indian Express.
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“This dynamics later changed post 1975 – after the United Nation (UN) declared the year as women’s year. We also had a woman prime minister during that time as Indira Gandhi. These incidents catapulted the need for introduction of women reservation in local body polls,” Jondhale told.
Exposing scams to becoming Covid warriors, how women Mayors led from the front
In the last three decades Mumbai has seen six female Mayors. Of them, mayors like Snehal Ambekar and Kishori Pednekar became popular for being at the forefront during times of trials, while leaders like Vishakha Raut is known amongst citizens for being of the key faces of her party.
In 1997, Vishakha Raut — from the undivided Shiv Sena became the first female Mayor from the party. The civic records show that Raut became a Mayor only during her first time as the corporator and she served as the first citizen of Mumbai for a one year stint. Later, during the 1999 assembly polls, Raut was elected as an MLA in the state assembly and from 2010 onwards Raut served as the deputy leader in her party. In 2017, she again got re elected as the corporator. As on today, she is one of the longest serving corporator in the municipal corporation.
In 2014 – Snehal Ambekar from the undivided Shiv Sena was nominated as the Mayor during her maiden stint as a corporator. One of the key take-ways from her term include the expose of the road scam. The Rs 352 crore scam uncovered massive malpractices, shoddy works and nexus between corporators and private contractors in the BMC. The investigation on this issue was initiated after Ambekar had written a confidential letter to then municipal commissioner — Ajoy Mehta asking him to initiate an inquiry.
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“The seat of Mayor doesn’t have any gender and it shouldn’t be looked through the lens of any gender or category. The reason I unearthed the road scam only because I could see how public money was being exploited and somebody had to crack a whip on those who were involved in this shoddy practice,” Ambekar told the Indian Express.
After her tenure Ambekar continued her term as an elected corporator and she was re elected again in 2017. For this year’s civic elections, Ambekar said that she voluntarily informed her party that she doesn’t want to contest as she wanted to make way for new candidates.
Mumbai’s last sitting Mayor – Kishori Pednekar – who held the office from 2020 and 2022 was known for being at the forefront during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Throughout the pandemic, Pednekar who worked as a Nurse before entering into electoral politics in 2002. Pednekar was seen donning her attire of a nurse and visiting Covid-19 treatment facilities and jumbo centres. Pednekar belonged from the undivided Sena and after the vertical split in the party, she joined with the UBT faction of the party.
“For any Mayor, its important that he or she works in a way that sets an example. During the pandemic outbreak I realised that it’s my duty as the first citizen to stay outside on road working for people, instead of staying indoors and maintaining social distancing,” Pednekar told Express. In the recently concluded civic elections Pednekar was reelected from her constituency in Worli and will be serving as the party’s leader in the house.
Female Mayors who have been elected so far
Sulochana Modi —- 1956 — Congress
Nirmala Prabhavalkar —- 1994 — Congress
Vishakha Raut — 1997 — undivided Shiv Sena
Shubha Raul — 2007 — undivided Shiv Sena
Shraddha Jadhav — 2009 — undivided Shiv Sena
Snehal Ambekar — 2014 — undivided Shiv Sena
Kishori Pednekar — 2020 — undivided Shiv Sena
