India, Jan. 11 -- A citizen-led audit has flagged a widening gap, and in several cases, a complete reversal, between the 2017 civic manifesto promises of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party and the reality of governance in Mumbai over the past eight years.

The audit, conducted by BMCelections.org, states that civic governance between 2017 and 2025 marked a fundamental shift in the functioning of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation- from a democratic, surplus-accumulating institution to a bureaucratic, deficit-financed body increasingly driven by capital-intensive infrastructure spending.

According to the report, the defining feature of this shift has been a clear policy preference for large road and transport projects over i...