Maharashtra Municipal Elections: Voting begins for 29 civic bodies; spotlight on Mumbai

Elections will be held for 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Thursday. Voting for 2,869 seats across 893 wards begins at 7:30 am and concludes at 5:30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.

In Mumbai, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats, with the BJP-led Mahayuti locked in a fierce battle against the united Thackeray cousins, Raj and Uddhav. The elections will be a crucial test for the rival factions of the Shiv Sena and NCP, as well as for the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the Congress, all of whom are seeking to assert political influence in the state.

These elections mark the first BMC polls since the 2022 split of Shiv Sena, when Eknath Shinde broke away with a majority of the party’s MLAs. The undivided Shiv Sena had dominated India’s wealthiest civic body for 25 years, from 1997 to 2022.

The reunion of estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, after nearly two decades, emerged as a significant political development ahead of the elections. In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the rival factions of the NCP formed pre-poll alliances.

In Mumbai, the Congress is contesting in alliance with Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh. However, in Nagpur, the party is going solo.

The cities and towns going to the polls include Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Mumbai, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna, and Ichalkaranji.

Tight security in Mumbai

In Mumbai, over 25,000 police personnel have been deployed to oversee both the elections and vote counting. Police have set up barricades at various locations and are conducting checks on passing vehicles. A total of 10,231 polling stations have been established across the city, with 64,375 officers and staff assigned to election duties.

The BMC has implemented several measures to encourage voter participation, including decorating polling stations, setting up pink booths, selfie points, and media facilitation centers. Special assistance will be provided for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the civic body has introduced a geo-fencing and live vehicle tracking system to monitor the movement of vehicles deployed for election duty.