Reality check for identity politics: At 34.4 per cent, share of non-Marathi corporators in BMC highest in over three decades

The results to the BMC elections 2026 were declared on Friday, January 16. (File: PTI)

• Non-Marathi corporators now make up 34.4% of Mumbai's civic House, up from 2017.
• BJP leads in non-Marathi representation, with 38 of its 89 corporators.
• Shiv Sena factions still depend on Marathi voters despite split and new campaign.

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The results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections have shown that Mumbai's migrant vote remains largely unmoved by the aggressive Marathi identity push that dominated much of the campaign. Even as both factions of the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led the "Marathi manoos" plank, non-Marathi corporators have held on to their base in the 227-member civic House, underlining the limits of identity politics in a city built by migration.

Of the 227 corporators elected, 78 are of non-Marathi origin, accounting for 34.4 per cent of the House. This is marginally higher than the 2017 elections, when 76 non-Marathi corporators were elected, and marks a steady rise from the 2012 low of 64 seats or 28.2 per cent. The numbers suggest that despite periodic waves of anti-migrant rhetoric, the political space occupied by non-Marathi communities in Mumbai has remained resilient and, in fact, slowly expanded.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which emerged as the single largest party in the new House, has the highest non-Marathi representation. Of its 89 corporators, 38 are non-Marathi, or nearly 43 per cent, largely based on its hold in linguistically mixed suburban wards and migrant-dominated pockets of the city.

In contrast, both factions of the Shiv Sena remain heavily reliant on Marathi-speaking voters. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has just seven non-Marathi corporators among its 65 winners, while the Eknath Shinde-led Sena has five among its 29. The numbers reveal how Sena's electoral identity continues to be anchored in Marathi linguistic politics despite the party's split.

The Congress, on the other hand, presents the opposite but a predictable picture. Of its 24 corporators, 16 are non-Marathi, a tally underlining its dependence on minority and migrant-heavy wards. The AIMIM follows a similar pattern, with seven of its eight winners being non-Marathi. The Nationalist Congress Party, which won three seats, returned only Marathi corporators.

Mumbai's civic politics has long reflected its shifting demography. In the decades after Independence, non-Marathi communities such as Gujaratis, Parsis, Marwaris, Muslims, Christians and South Indians dominated the municipal body. Between 1947 and 1968, 15 of Mumbai's 21 mayors were non-Marathi, and by the mid-1970s, non-Marathis accounted for nearly 45 per cent of corporators.

This began to change with the rise of the Shiv Sena in the late 1960s, which mobilised Marathi neighbourhoods and made linguistic identity the fulcrum of civic politics. By 2012, non-Marathi representation had dropped to its lowest point in decades at just over 28 per cent, even as migration to Mumbai continued unabated.

Since then, the trend has reversed. The 2017 elections saw non-Marathi representation climb back to 33 per cent, and the latest results push that figure further to 34.4 per cent, indicating that migrant communities are once again consolidating politically.

Census data shows that while Marathi remains the single largest language group in Mumbai, Hindi-speaking and Urdu-speaking populations have grown at a much faster pace since the 1970s, particularly in the suburbs where most new wards have emerged. These areas now decide the outcome of dozens of seats, making non-Marathi voters indispensable for any party aspiring to control the BMC.

This demographic reality has shaped party strategies. With power at the Centre, the BJP has projected itself as more openly pro-migrant in Mumbai, promoting non-Marathi leaders and avoiding overt linguistic confrontation. The Sena, meanwhile, has softened its earlier anti-migrant rhetoric but continues to rely on the Marathi identity plank to protect its traditional base.

As Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told The Indian Express earlier, the BJP has chosen not to play defence on identity issues. "Since we are a pan-India party, we don't aggressively project regional pride. In every election, they try to push emotive issues as they have nothing to counter my development agenda. We are batting on the front foot," he said.