Mumbai:
The counting of votes has begun for elections to 29 civic bodies in Maharashtra, including the high-stakes battle in Mumbai and Pune. While Thackeray cousins are trying to retain the BMC, the reunited Pawars are hoping to defend their Pune citadel.
Here Are Top 10 Points On Maharashtra Civic Body Poll Results:
- All eyes are on Mumbai, where two cousins, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, have reunited after over 20 years to reclaim the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
- In the BMC, whose annual budget is over Rs 74,400 crore, there were 1,700 candidates for 227 seats in the elections that were held after nine years and a four-year delay.
- According to multiple exit polls, the alliance of Devendra Fadnavis' BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena will win big in the elections for the BMC. An aggregate of six exit polls shows the Sena-BJP getting 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena UBT and allies may win 63 and the Congress 20.
- The Thackeray cousins will apparently scoop up the Maratha and the Muslim votes, and the Congress will maintain its stronghold on minority votes, exit polls predicted.
- Young voters and the women are expected to side with the BJP. Exit polls, however, don't always get it right.
- The elections for the BMC, the richest in Asia, were last held in 2017, when the united Shiv Sena - which had been controlling it for decades - retained its grip.
- Pune is also being keenly watched, where two rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Pawar, formed an alliance for the municipal elections.
- As per exit polls, the BJP will be the largest party in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) polls. It is expected to win around 70 of 165 seats, while Ajit Pawar's NCP could get 55. Sharad Pawar's NCP is likely to win 10 seats, and the Shiv Sena, which contested the polls independently, could win 12 seats.
- Polling for 2,869 seats across 893 wards in the 29 civic bodies was held on Thursday. A total of 3.48 crore voters were eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates, including 1,700 in Mumbai.
- Besides Mumbai and Pune, votes will also be counted in the following municipal corporations: 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.
