According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), nearly one in four winning candidates in the 2026 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections has declared criminal cases against themselves, while nearly four in five are crorepatis.
The ADR, which studied the affidavits of all 227 winning candidates, said that 54 winners, or 24 percent, have declared criminal cases, while 29 candidates, or 13 percent, face serious criminal charges. This data was collected from self-declared affidavits submitted by candidates during the civic elections in collaboration with Maharashtra Election Watch.
The report said that a party-wise analysis showed that 33 percent of BJP winners had declared criminal cases, followed by 24 percent of Shiv Sena and 15 percent of Shiv Sena (UBT). The financial profiles of the candidates also indicate a significant presence of wealthy candidates. The ADR said that out of 227 winners, 180, or about 79 percent, declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, with the average assets of the winning candidates estimated at Rs 7.18 crore.
Among parties, 76 percent of BJP winners, 83 percent of Shiv Sena (UBT), 93 percent of Shiv Sena and 92 percent of Indian National Congress winners were crorepatis, it said. The report further said that 60 percent of the elected corporators are women, while about 70 percent fall in the 41-70 age group. Nearly half of the winners have educational qualifications of graduate level or above.