The municipal corporation consists of democratically elected members, is headed by a mayor and administers the city's infrastructure and public services.

[4] Due to lacked planned development in regards to facilities like water supply, drainage, sanitation and waste disposal, the first municipality was constituted in Indore in 1870 and Bakshi Khuman Singh was appointed the chairman.

As per the provision of Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956, IMC has a chairman (Mayor), councilors elected by direct election from 85 wards, 1 member of Parliament, 5 members of State Legislative Assembly representing constituencies within municipal areas.

[11] The Smart City Indore mission was widely appreciated for the efforts put by the government in citizen engagement.

The cities have been ranked based on the extent to which they have communicated and taken public feedback on their plans through basic online platforms : the urban local body websites, Facebook page and the Union government portal mygov.in.