On July 26, 1875, just over 1,200 citizens voted in the first elections to the Bombay Municipal Corporation. The 64 councillors elected then were drawn almost entirely from the city’s elite, reflecting a restricted electorate limited to a small group of tax paying citizens.
Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation came into existence in 1872 with the enactment of the Bombay Act. Initially headquartered at the Army Navy Building, the civic body had 64 councillors, all of whom were nominated by the British government or by judges of the High Court.
Subsequently, it was decided that 50 per cent of the councillors, 32 of the 64, would be elected by citizens, while the remaining half would continue to be nominated by the government and judges.
Voting rights were restricted to tax paying citizens, known as rate payers, who paid a minimum annual tax of Rs 50. Following a survey by the assessment department, 3,893 rate payers were found eligible to vote. This constituted just 0.6 per cent of the city’s population, as the 1872 census recorded Mumbai’s population at 6.44 lakh.
The eligible voters included 1,621 Hindus, 1,074 Parsis, 896 Muslims, 165 Europeans, 108 Portuguese and 29 Jews.
Two years later, when elections were held, only 1,255 voters, about 35 per cent of those eligible, turned out. Of the 32 councillors elected by rate payers, 14 were Parsis, 10 Hindus, five Muslims and three Europeans.
A month later, judges elected 16 councillors, including six Parsis and five each from European and Hindu communities. The government nominated another 16 members, 13 of whom were Europeans, along with one Hindu, one Muslim and one Parsi.
In total, the first elected civic body comprised 21 Europeans, 21 Parsis, 16 Hindus and six Muslims.
Prominent members included Dadabhai Naoroji, Byramjee Jeejebhoy, Cursetjee Nusserwanjee Cama, Kharshedji Rustomji Cama, Pherozeshah Mehta and Vishwanath Narayan Mandlik.
Beyond Independence
BMC records show this system continued into the early 20th century. In 1922, voting rights were extended to rent payers, tenants residing in registered properties on which municipal taxes were levied.
In 1931, the post of President was renamed Mayor, giving the civic body a more democratic structure, though the role remained ceremonial. In 1952, the corporation became fully elected with the removal of nominated councillors. Four years later, Mumbai got its first woman Mayor, Sulochana Modi.
“Earlier, during the Colonial era the role of councillors in Mumbai was only titular which means they didn’t have much say or power in the administrative system. Later, after voting rights were distributed among rateable citizens, Pherozeshah Mehta advocated that the civic council should represent the citizens and gradually the councillors were given powers,” said Kaevan Umrigar, head of research at Khaki Tours, told The Indian Express.
Inception of a democratised system
In 1968, local body elections in the BMC were held under the supervision of an election commission for the first time. It was after this election that municipal councillors came to be known as Nagarsevaks.
According to political researcher Surendra Jondhale, the 1960s and 1970s were marked by socio economic unrest and political mobilisation across the country, with Mumbai emerging as a centre of activism.
“From the 1960 till the end of 1980s, a large scale working class movement had begun, there were atrocities in the textile mills. Therefore, different types of political ethos were created by various communist and socialist parties. As a result, an aspiration of acquiring political offices also started to grow amongst the middle class, therefore large scale politics of the middle citizens in electoral politics started to begin from that period,” Jondhale told Express.
In 1989, the strength of the civic standing committee was increased to 20 members, giving elected representatives greater control over the corporation’s finances.
Retired IAS officer D M Sukthankar said, “The political demography in BMC entirely changed post the 1970s when members from higher economic strata didn’t dominate the municipal politics anymore and the representation of common citizens was fairly distributed through elected municipal councillors. While Congress had the highest number of councillors till the end of 1980s, the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and Jan Sangh also had a fair presence in the administrative system thus reflecting the overall democracy system.”
Mayor in council and beyond
In 1990, 30 per cent of BMC seats were reserved for women. Four years later, the Municipal Corporation Act was amended to reserve one third of seats for women, with 27 per cent reserved for marginalised communities.
In 1998, a Mayor in council system was introduced, granting executive powers to the Mayor and councillors. However, the system was scrapped within a year, and the posts of Leader of Opposition and Deputy Mayor were introduced.
“The Mayor in council system was brought in to empower the Mayor and Councillors in a way that all the administrative power would go to them. However, this created an imbalance in the system as many councillors were seen abusing their powers. Also, since BMC is a statutory body and self governing institute there was no direct accountability of power, therefore, within a year the government reversed its decision,” a civic official told the Indian Express.
Since then, the Mayor’s role has remained ceremonial, while elected corporators coordinate with the BMC on civic works and serve on statutory committees that shape policy and development decisions.
Each corporator receives an annual constituency allocation of Rs 1.6 crore and a monthly honorarium of Rs 25,000.
Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation came into existence in 1872 with the enactment of the Bombay Act. 
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