Maharashtra's Urban Development Department held a reservation lottery on January 22, 2026. The mayor's posts in nine municipal corporations — Mumbai, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Malegaon, Nashik, Nagpur, Dhule, Nanded, and Mira-Bhayander — were reserved for open women category. Only women corporators from the general category can become mayors in these cities for the next 2.5 years. The Mumbai municipal corporation's mayor post was placed in the open women category instead of the OBC category. This triggered protests, especially since Mumbai's mayoral post was also reserved for open women in 2017. Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, including former mayor Kishori Pednekar, walked out after the administration said objections would be heard only after the lottery was done. Other key reservations include: Kalyan Dombivli's mayor seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe; Thane for Scheduled Caste; Latur and Jalna for Scheduled Caste women; and Jalgaon, Chandrapur, Ahilyanagar, and Akola for OBC women. The reservation lottery marks an important move in Maharashtra's local body elections.