As the counting of votes progresses in the Mira–Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, the BJP is leading in 32 wards, while the Indian National Congress is ahead in 8 seats, Marathi media reports said.
According to the latest updates from the Mira–Bhayandar counting station, the Shiv Sena (Shinde) is leading in 7 wards. The exit polls had backed the BJP to emerge as the key player in the corporation, which is considered a stronghold of the saffron party. In the previous election held in 2017, the BJP had secured a clear majority in Mira–Bhayandar by winning 61 seats, ABP said in a report.
Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena had joined hands with Raj Thackeray’s MNS and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction ahead of the elections. While the alliance has failed to make any visible impact, the Shiv Sena (UBT) appears to have made inroads into Marathi-dominated areas such as Bhayandar West, the ABP report added. The Congress had, meanwhile, tried to strengthen its position in a few selected Muslim- and Christian-majority areas of Mira Road.
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In other news, the BJP–Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance was ahead in the high-stakes Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections, as per trends in 210 of 227 wards after the counting of votes began on Friday morning. There was no official confirmation from the State Election Commission, but TV channels said the BJP was leading in 92 wards in Mumbai, while Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was ahead in 26 wards. Going by the trends, the Mahayuti alliance is poised to cross the majority mark of 114 needed to wrest power in the BMC. The Congress, with its ally the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, has wrested power in the Latur Municipal Corporation, channels reported.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations were held on 15 January after a gap of several years, with the terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India. Voting took place in these municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, 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.