Voting underway in 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra, Mumbai votes after nine years, queues seen at polling stations

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): Voting is currently underway in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra. Polling began at 7:30 am and will continue till 5:30 pm, while the results will be declared on Friday. The most closely watched contest is the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), where elections are being held after a gap of nine years. Voting is taking place for 227 seats, and a majority mark of 114 seats is required to form the civic body.

In the BMC elections, direct contests are being witnessed on 32 seats between the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance and the Shiv Sena (UBT)–Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine. This situation has emerged as the Congress–Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) alliance has not fielded candidates on these seats. Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray are contesting the elections together, while in Pune, the NCP is contesting independently.

Long queues were seen at polling booths since morning, reflecting strong voter participation. Several prominent personalities, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, and former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, cast their votes and appealed to citizens to participate in the democratic process.

In the BMC elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) are contesting together, with the BJP fielding candidates on 137 seats and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena contesting 90 seats. On the other hand, Shiv Sena (UBT) has formed an alliance with the MNS, with UBT contesting 163 seats and MNS 52 seats. The Congress is contesting in alliance with the VBA, where Congress is fighting on 143 seats and VBA on 46 seats. The NCP, led by the Ajit Pawar faction, is contesting alone on 94 seats.