The results for the Nagpur Municipal Corporation are expected early in the afternoon on Friday, as counting began simultaneously throughout the region. About 992 candidates are contesting for 151 seats across the 38 wards in the NMC.
A glitch was found in some of the wards in the NMC as names of family members of Union Minister Nithin Gadkari was found in different wards as they showed up to vote. The glitch impacted this year's voter turnout, Lok Satta reported.
This year, the NMC saw a voter turnout of only 51 per cent, compared to 53.72 per cent during the last elections which were conducted in 2017.
The issue also affected family members of BJP candidate Sangita Girhe, whose names were found in two different wards. Sneha Dekate's family members names were found in a completely different region. Many reported that they were unable to vote as their names never showed in the right wards.
The NMC is considered a stronghold of the BJP and is a political homeground for influential BJP leaders like Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nithin Gadkari and Chandrashekar Bawankule.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is contesting on 143 seats, and Shiv Sena on 8. Meanwhile, the Congress is fielding 151 candidates, the NCP (96), Shiv Sena UBT (56), MNS(22) and Sharad Pawar NCP (79).
The BJP is currently leading on 12 seats in the NMC after vote counting began at 10 am on Friday.
Counting is being conducted at 10 different locations, each corresponding to one zone. NMC commissioner and election officer Abhijit Chowdhury said, “At every counting centre, 20 tables have been set up for EVM counting. In addition, four tables in each zone have been earmarked for counting postal ballots,”
This year, the party saw fractures ahead of the elections with longtime corporators like Sunil Agrawal, Dhiraj Chavan, who are linked to MLA Pravin Datke, Sudhir Raut and ex-mayor Archana Dehankar’s husband Vinayak all splitting from the party to contest independently.
The BJP was dominant in the municipal corporation for the last 20 years from the 2007, 2012 and 2017 elections.
During the 2017 elections, the BJP secured 108 seats out of the 151 seats in the NMC. Congress, meanwhile, took hold of 29 seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party won 10. The 2017 elections had a voter turnout of 53.72 per cent.
This year, the electoral contest in Nagpur has drawn attention in regions like the Vidharbha, Akjola, Amravati and Chandrapur regions, where the development of infrastructure has been politically interconnected.
The BJP actively campaigned for a development-focused pitch which included the construction of roads, flyovers, logistics and urban infrastructure in the region.
Meanwhile, Congress, in an attempt to break the BJP’s winning streak in the NCP, campaigned for providing household amenities like 30,000 litres of free drinking water and the construction of schools.