BMC polls underway: Reunited Thackeray clan takes on BJP-led Mahayuti
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "BMC polls underway: Reunited Thackeray clan takes on BJP-led Mahayuti")
BMC polls underway Photograph: (ANI)
Polling is underway for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, India’s richest civic body, after an eight-year gap. The BJP-led Mahayuti faces a united Thackeray camp as civic polls are held across Maharashtra.
The polling for India's richest municipal corporation, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is underway after voters started exercising their franchise at 7:30 am on Thursday (Jan 15). 277 new ward members will be elected after a gap of nearly 8 years. The last BMC election was held in February 2017. Currently, the posts of deputy mayor and mayor are vacant. A total of 1,700 candidates are in fray. A total of 1,03,44,315 citizens are eligible to vote in the BMC polls. Of these, 55,16,707 are men, 48,26,509 are women, and the number of other voters is 1,099. Apart from Mumbai, Municipal elections for over 28 other corporations are being held across Maharashtra, with counting of votes scheduled for January 16. Voter turnout till 9:30 am is 6.98 per cent.
Also Read: Faster commute, better health, clean streets: Mahayuti’s Mumbai pitch ahead of BMC elections
Voting begins
As the voting commences, long queues were seen outside many polling booths. Several Bollywood celebrities including Akshay Kumar arrived at the polling booth early in the morning to cast their votes. The Thackeray family, including former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray, also visited polling booth 44 at Kala Nagar, Sahvas Society, in Bandra East to cast their votes. To ensure maximum voter participation, the Maharashtra government has declared January 15 a public holiday. The holiday applies to all government and semi-government offices, corporations, and banks within the jurisdiction of the 29 corporations going to the polls.
Who is contesting against whom in the BMC polls?
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting the BMC elections in alliance with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena under the Mahayuti banner, except in Pune. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is fighting independently except in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, wherein NCP has joined hands with the NCP (SP). The main political battle remains centred on Mumbai and Pune, where the BJP-led Mahayuti will face the united Thackeray camp. Just ahead of the polls, Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joined hands on the issue of Marathi Manus.
Also Read: In BMC poll manifesto, BJP-led Mahayuti promises AI to track Bangladeshi, Rohingya migrants
The prominent civic bodies going to polls include Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar, Panvel, Nashik, Malegaon, Ahilyanagar, Jalgaon, Dhule, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ichalkaranji, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded-Waghala, Parbhani, Jalna, Latur, Amravati, Akola, Nagpur and Chandrapur.
