MUMBAI

The name ‘Mumbai’ is derived from the patron deity of the city, Mumba Devi, worshiped by the earliest inhabitants, the Kolis. Mumbai (also known as Bombay, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.4 million as of 2011. Along with the neighboring regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is the second most populous metropolitan area in India. In 1990, the erstwhile Mumbai district was bifurcated into Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban districts. The current Mumbai city district comprises an area from Colaba in the south to Mahim and Sion in the north.

The district consists of the following Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies:

Within the Vidhan Parishad, the Mumbai City District is represented by Mumbai City Local Bodies Authorities Constituency, the Konkan Teachers’ Constituency, and the Konkan Graduates Constituency. The Graduates and Teachers’ Constituencies are based on the administrative divisions of Maharashtra.

The given maps provide an overview of the boundaries of the Mumbai city district and the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha Constituencies that fall within and around it.

Based on records from the delimitation reports by the Election Commission, it is evident that there have been significant changes to the Vidhan Sabha constituencies within the Mumbai city district over the years. The given chart provides an overview of the changes that have occurred in the composition of Mumbai’s Lok Sabha constituencies and the reshuffling of the Vidhan Sabha constituencies with every delimitation that has been done.

The following is the current Member of Parliament (MP) representing Mumbai City in the Lok Sabha, as of 2024:

The following are the current Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) representing constituencies in Mumbai City, as of 2024:

Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Raut, both from Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SHS-UBT), Milind Deora from Shiv Sena (SHS), and Chandrakant Handore from INC, currently representing Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha, are from this district. Imran Pratapgarhi from INC, also represents Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha, though he originally belongs to Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

The current Guardian Minister of the district is Eknath Shinde from SHS.

The following table lists the current Members of the Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad representing Mumbai City district through various constituencies, as of 2024:

The following are the key administrative heads of Mumbai City, as of 2024:

There is one single Urban Local Body: 1 Mahanagar Palika, 0 Nagar Parishad, 0 Nagar Panchayat. There are 0 Gram Panchayats.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), was formally established in 1873, making it one of the oldest local self-governing bodies in India. Its establishment followed the formation of the Bombay Port Trust in 1872. As of 2023, the BMC administers a total of 227 electoral wards. The SHS held dominant influence in the corporation for over 15 years, marking a significant phase in Mumbai’s urban governance. Other major political parties such as the INC, NCP, BJP, and Samajwadi Party (SP) have also maintained an active presence through elected corporators, reflecting the diversity and competitive nature of Mumbai’s local politics.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, there were a total of 29 candidates from the Mumbai city district (14 from Mumbai South and 15 from Mumbai South-Central). Out of which, eight candidates had criminal cases against them, with only five of them having serious cases registered. The elected MP of Mumbai South-Central had no criminal cases registered against him, while the elected MP from Mumbai South had one case registered against him.

From the 1940s to the early 2010s, Mumbai witnessed the rise and fall of several gangsters who shaped the city's notorious underworld. These individuals and their syndicates operated across the city and its suburbs, influencing not only crime but also politics, law enforcement, and real estate. Prominent names include Haji Mastan, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Karim Lala, Dawood Ibrahim, Arun Gawli, Haseena Parkar, Chhota Rajan, Rama Naik, Babu Reshim, Sai Bansod, Sada Pawle, Kiran Walawalkar, Ganesh Bhosle alias Vakil, Chandrashekhar Mirashi, Ashok Choudhary alias Chhota Babu, Parasnath Pandey, Shashi Rasam, Mohan Sarmalkar, and Kundan Dubey.

Haji Mastan, born in 1926 in Pannaikulam near Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, was one of Mumbai’s earliest and most iconic gangsters. After moving to Bombay at the age of 8, Mastan began working as a porter on the docks by 1944. Over time, he entered the world of smuggling and rose rapidly in the city’s underworld. By the 1960s, Mastan had become extremely wealthy through gold, silver, and electronic goods smuggling. Known for his charisma and style, he was closely associated with Karim Lala and became the first gangster in Mumbai to gain celebrity-like status.

Varadarajan Mudaliar, widely known as Vardhabhai, was a dominant Tamil Hindu gangster who operated from the 1960s to the 1980s. He held immense influence over Dharavi and Matunga, where he ran a parallel justice system, with his word seen as final by local residents. His rise paralleled that of Haji Mastan and Karim Lala, forming a powerful triad of crime in Mumbai. Vardhabhai was known for maintaining strong ties with the Tamil community and controlling much of the city’s east and north-central regions.

Karim Lala led one of Mumbai’s most feared mafia syndicates from the 1940s through the 1980s. His group, often referred to as the “Pathan mafia” or “Afghan mafia” by law enforcement, consisted mainly of ethnic Pashtuns from Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Lala’s syndicate controlled bootlegging, gambling, gold smuggling, hashish trafficking, extortion, and contract killings. He was especially influential around the Mumbai docks and retained power for decades, remaining a major figure until the mid-1980s.

Dawood Ibrahim, originally from Khed in Ratnagiri district, founded the infamous D-Company, one of the most powerful and internationally recognised crime syndicates. He initially operated in Mumbai but shifted base after the 1993 Bombay bombings, which he is alleged to have masterminded along with Tiger Memon. D-Company is often described as a criminal-terrorist nexus rather than a traditional cartel, with operations spanning smuggling, extortion, real estate, and international crime. Dawood remains on India’s most-wanted list.

Haseena Parkar, Dawood Ibrahim’s younger sister, emerged as a feared and influential figure in Mumbai’s underworld, especially in the Nagpada area. Often referred to as the "mafia queen" or the "godmother of Nagpada," she took over many of her brother’s operations in the city after his departure. She was known to have mediated disputes and controlled extortion rackets until her death in 2014 from cardiac arrest.

Arun Gawli began his criminal career in Dagdi Chawl, Byculla, which became his stronghold. His gang was involved in extortion, kidnapping, and murder, often using the chawl as a base for criminal activities. Though frequently arrested, Gawli managed to avoid convictions due to witness intimidation. In 2004, he entered politics, founding the Akhil Bharatiya Sena and winning a seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Chinchpokli constituency. However, in 2012, he was convicted for the murder of SHS politician Kamalakar Jamsandekar and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The demand for a separate state of Maharashtra, with Mumbai as its capital, gained momentum in the early 1960s. Driven by linguistic and cultural identity concerns, Marathi-speaking regions sought autonomy from the bilingual Bombay State. On 21 November 1955, demonstrators were fired upon by the police at Flora Fountain in the capital city of Bombay. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed Hutatma Chowk or "Martyr's Crossroad" in their memory. It is estimated that a total of 106 people were shot by security forces during the period of agitation and at different places.

The movement culminated in the formation of Maharashtra on 1 May 1960, with Mumbai as its capital. The creation of Maharashtra was a significant milestone in Mumbai's history, solidifying its position as the political and economic heart of the state. The statehood movement underscored the importance of regional identity and self-determination in India's diverse political landscape

The Great Bombay Textile Strike was a textile strike called on 18 January 1982 by the mill workers of Mumbai under trade union leader Dutta Samant. The purpose of the strike was to obtain a bonus payment and an increase in wages. Nearly 250,000 workers of 65 textile mills went on strike in Mumbai. As a consequence, the majority of the over 80 mills in Central Mumbai closed during and after the strike, leaving more than 150,000 workers unemployed. The textile industry in Mumbai has largely disappeared, reducing labour migration after the strikes.

The Bombay riots, a series of violent clashes, occurred in Mumbai (then known as Bombay), between December 1992 and January 1993. These riots were triggered by a series of communal tensions following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. The Masjid’s destruction, carried out by Hindu nationalist groups, incited widespread outrage among Muslims across India, leading to protests and retaliatory violence.

The riots unfolded in two phases. The first phase, in December 1992, was marked by Muslim anger over the demolition, with many attacks on Hindus and Hindu establishments. In response, the second phase, in January 1993, saw violent reprisals by Hindus, inflamed further by right-wing Hindu organizations like the Shiv Sena, which called for retaliatory action.

The riots claimed around 900 lives, though some estimates place the toll much higher. The victims included both Hindus and Muslims, but Muslims suffered a disproportionately high number of casualties. Thousands of people were injured, and property, including homes, businesses, and religious sites, was extensively damaged. In addition to the fatalities, many women were subjected to brutal sexual violence during the unrest.

Several reports and investigations, including the Srikrishna Commission, which was set up to investigate the riots, pointed to the involvement of the Shiv Sena and criticized the role of the police, accusing them of biased and inadequate responses. However, many of the perpetrators were never brought to justice.

The violence culminated in further tragedy with the Bombay bombings of March 1993, a coordinated series of bomb explosions across the city, believed to be orchestrated by the underworld, in retaliation for the riots. These events left a lasting scar on Mumbai, deepening the communal divide and altering the social and political fabric of the city.

On October 10, 2006, clashes erupted between supporters of the SHS and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray. The conflict began when MNS workers allegedly tore down posters featuring SHS supremo Bal Thackeray near SIES College in Mumbai. In retaliation, SHS workers were accused of removing hoardings bearing Raj Thackeray's image near Sena Bhavan in Dadar. As news of the incident spread, groups from both parties gathered near Sena Bhavan, hurling stones at each other.

The violence escalated, leading to injuries among several supporters from both sides and a policeman caught in the crossfire. To disperse the mob, police resorted to firing tear gas shells. Order was eventually restored when Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray arrived at the scene. Uddhav appealed to SHS supporters to return home, helping to defuse the situation.

The 2008 attacks on migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in Maharashtra began on 3 February 2008, following violent clashes between members of two political parties - Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Samajwadi Party - in Dadar. The violence erupted when MNS workers, part of a splinter faction formed from the SHS, attempted to attack SP workers, a regional party from Uttar Pradesh, as they were heading to a rally organized by the United National Progressive Alliance.

On 13 February 2008, the state government, which had faced criticism for its delayed response, arrested both Raj Thackeray, leader of the MNS, and Abu Asim Azmi, a local SP leader, on charges of inciting violence and communal disturbance. Although both leaders were released the same day, a gag order was imposed to prevent them from making further inflammatory statements.

Tensions escalated across Maharashtra as news of Raj Thackeray's arrest spread, sparking anger among his supporters. Incidents of violence targeting North Indians and their property by MNS workers were reported in various cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Beed, Nashik, Amravati, Jalna, and Latur.