Mumbai’s corporators, elected in 2017 to steer the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) through its richest-ever budgets, have largely underperformed over their extended tenure, according to detailed analyses by the Praja Foundation. As the city gears up for fresh polls on January 15, 2026, a stark performance review reveals that 90% of evaluated corporators scored poorly, raising questions about accountability in India’s wealthiest civic body.
Praja Foundation’s Damning Report Card
The Praja Foundation’s comprehensive report, covering 2017 to 2021, evaluated 220 out of 227 corporators, excluding mayors and those with incomplete terms. Only two secured an A grade (80-100 marks), 20 got a B (70-80), while a whopping 198—nearly 90%—received C, D, E, or F grades for scores below 70. The overall average score plummeted to 55.10%, down from 58.92% in the previous term (2012-2016).
Congress opposition leader Ravi Raja topped the charts as the best performer, followed by Shiv Sena’s Samadhan Sarvankar and BJP’s Harish Chheda. Congress corporators fared relatively better among parties, with Raja attributing their edge to “hard work and persistence” despite smaller numbers. BJP leader Vinod Mishra dismissed the findings, pointing to BMC corruption and expressing confidence in voter support come election time.
Praja’s metrics included attendance at committee meetings, questions raised on civic issues, and overall engagement. Attendance dipped alarmingly from 82.15% in 2017-18 to 73.70% in 2019-20, even before the pandemic. Questions posed to the administration declined year-on-year, signaling waning vigilance on citizen complaints.
Persistent Underperformance Amid Pandemic Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted annual report cards, prompting Praja to consolidate data for the full tenure. Surprisingly, meetings increased by four per month during peak pandemic months, aided by digital tools, yet participation remained low. Praja director Milind Mhaske emphasized that corporators, as citizens’ representatives, must aggressively pursue complaints with the BMC administration—a role many neglected.
Systemic issues amplified the shortfall. Underperformance spanned most wards, with limited monitoring of corporator activities, poor documentation of local outcomes, and inefficiencies despite BMC’s massive annual budgets exceeding ₹52,000 crore in 2023-24. The civic body, criticized for corruption and pothole-plagued roads, generated surpluses of ₹3,000-4,000 crore yearly, yet infrastructure woes persisted, from shoddy roadworks to ignored police pleas for repairs.
Post-2022, when the term officially ended after Supreme Court delays over OBC quotas, former corporators claimed continued efforts sans funds. They focused on escalating issues like roads, sewage, and water to MLAs and bureaucrats, arranging citizen-bureaucrat meets. Colaba’s Makarand Narwekar highlighted streamlining resolutions via ward offices or MLA funds, underscoring a tenure marked more by survival than transformation.
Party Dynamics and What Hasn’t Changed
The 2017 elections delivered Shiv Sena 84 seats (rising to 99 via defections and bypolls), BJP 80, Congress 31, NCP 9, MNS 7, and others. The 2022 split left Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena with 55 loyalists and Eknath Shinde’s faction with 44. Recent ward reservations saw Sena (UBT) and BJP lose 30% of seats in lotteries, potentially reshaping alliances ahead of 2026.
Despite BMC’s financial muscle—allocating ₹2.19 lakh crore over a decade, outpacing some states—core problems endure. Potholes recur annually, traffic snarls worsen, and decentralization remains elusive. Praja founder Nitai Mehta called for introspection, urging technology-driven meetings, stakeholder coordination, and empowered local decision-making. A citizen activist echoed: “The city needs representatives with measurable accountability.”
Implications for 2026 BMC Polls
With polls set for January 15, 2026, alongside 28 other Maharashtra municipal corporations serving 3.48 crore urban voters, Praja’s review arms voters with data. No party uses formal report cards for candidate selection; alliances like BJP-Shiv Sena (Mahayuti) prioritize winnability. Yet, the report spotlights urgency for reforms: transparent dashboards, attendance mandates, and performance metrics.
Over seven years, little changed—Mumbai’s civic governance stayed top-heavy, under-scrutinized, and pothole-prone. Voters now hold the mandate to demand better, potentially flipping the script on corporator accountability in the ₹50,000-crore behemoth that is BMC.
