India’s richest municipal corporation on Saturday got its first woman leader in Ritu Tawde.Tawde, a BJP corporator from Ghatkopar, will head the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the first time in 25 years which had so far remained with the undivided Shiv Sena of the late Bal Thackeray family.She has previously served as chairperson of the Education Committee of BMC.Tawde will be assisted by deputy mayor Shankar Ghadi of the Shiv Sena, led by deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.The Shiv Sena has decided to rotate the deputy mayorship of BMC between four of its corporators, who will divide the term between themselves.The names of the mayor and deputy mayor were announced on Saturday by BJP leader Amit Satnam and Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale.The BJP won 89 seats in the 227-member BMC, becoming the largest party, followed by Shiv Sena with 29 seats. Together, the two parties, which contested the municipal elections in alliance, have 118 corporators in the BMC where the simple majority is 114.The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray-led MNS contested together and won 65 seats. With this, Thackeray dominance in the BMC ended, heralding the rise of the BJP.The BMC is the richest municipal corporation in India, with a budget of Rs 74,427 crore for 2025-26 financial year, a 14 per cent rise over the previous year. Cracking urban infrastructure remains the top challenge for Mumbai.