How Mahayuti Finally Pushed Through the Controversial Wadala Housing Deal Despite Fierce Opposition
3 min readMumbaiMay 9, 2026 11:50 AM IST
A week after the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress stalled the clearance of handing over a private plot at Mumbai’s Wadala for a housing redevelopment project by out voting the ruling Mahayuti alliance, the same proposal was again brought back on the agenda on Friday, for clearance.
The proposal was cleared by a thumping majority of 112 votes going in favour, while 89 went against it.
The tabled proposal was brought on the agenda as an urgent bill (UB), following which Mumbai’s Mayor Ritu Tawde ordered voting for the proposal in the house. According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) act, an UB requires three-fourth of the votes in its favour for clearance, unlike ordinary bills or proposals that require maximum votes in the floor of the house as per the present strength. As per the specified ratio, the bill required 90 votes in its favour to obtain full clearance.
Earlier on April 29, when the bill was tabled for the first time in the house, it got stalled as only 119 of the 227 elected members were present in the house, of which 61 were from the ruling and 58 were from the opposition. While the entire opposition voted against the proposal collectively, the proposal failed clearance.
Friday’s voting went on for nearly an hour, when all the corporators present in the house registered their signatures.
The tabled proposal stated that a civic owned plot in central Mumbai’s Wadala would be handed over to a private builder for redeveloping the existing housing tenements alongside developing new housing units on it. At present, the housing tenements are being occupied by municipal workers and families of traditional mill workers who have been living there as tenants.
“This proposal was tabled as an UB since it was a matter of public interest, and offers a scope for the city’s development and growth. We (BJP) were also in the opposition till the last term, but not once did we vote against an UB, unlike what the opposition did last time,” Ganesh Khankar, BJP corporator and leader of the house in BMC told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the opposition parties maintained that they aren’t opposing the bill in general, however, the nature of it in which the Mahayuti wanted it to pass it.
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Ashraf Azmi — Congress group leader and corporator said that this proposal got cleared in the civic standing committee earlier this month and as per the regulations, it should have been brought into the house after 90 days.
Sachin Padwal — Sena UBT corporator said, “Last month, the proposal of desilting Mithi River was tabled in the house as an UB and we voted for it because it is of public interest. A proposal pertaining to giving away land to a private builder is not related to public interest in any way. Therefore, we opposed it entirely.”
