Maharashtra: Voting Begins for BMC, 28 Other Urban Local Body Polls

Polling for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s wealthiest civic body, commenced early Thursday morning, marking the first municipal election in Mumbai after a gap of nearly eight years. Voters queued up from the start to elect 277 corporators, with polling beginning at 7:30 am.

The previous BMC elections were held in February 2017. At present, the posts of mayor and deputy mayor remain vacant. Around 1,700 candidates are in the fray for the civic polls across the city.

Prominent political figures, including former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray, were among the early voters, casting their ballots at polling booth number 44 at Kala Nagar’s Sahvas Society in Bandra East. Several film personalities are also expected to participate, with actor Akshay Kumar arriving at his designated polling station in the morning.

According to official data, a total of 1,03,44,315 voters are eligible to cast their votes in the BMC elections, comprising 55,16,707 men, 48,26,509 women and 1,099 voters from the ‘other’ category. The State Election Commission (SEC) has deployed thousands of personnel to ensure smooth polling and strict adherence to the Model Code of Conduct.

Municipal elections are also being conducted simultaneously in 28 other corporations across Maharashtra. Counting of votes for all civic bodies is scheduled for Friday, January 16.

To encourage higher voter turnout, the Maharashtra government has declared January 15 a public holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act for all government and semi-government offices, public sector undertakings and banks within the limits of the 29 municipal corporations going to polls.

The Politics

The BJP is contesting the BMC elections in alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party has tied up with the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) in major civic bodies such as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Election officials have introduced several voter-friendly measures, including assistance teams for senior citizens and women-only “pink booths.” As part of voter awareness efforts, Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea Link was illuminated with election-related messages.

Apart from Mumbai, major municipal corporations voting include Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) and several others across the state.