Mumbai:
Mumbai on Thursday worked overtime to earn its reputation as a city with no interest in deciding who will govern it.
At 9.30 am, the voter turnout for the civic body elections was just 8.5%. By 11:30 am, that had changed to 22.18%. By the end of the day, the overall figure was a mere 45%. "It is very sad because there are a lot of people who don't come out to vote and they are not really contributing anything to society. So they have no right to even complain because you getting what you deserve," said Congress MP Priya Dutt. "I don't believe this is the way to present your cynicism - by not voting," she added.
Compare this to Uttar Pradesh, which is currently voting for its new government, and delivered a record 62% turnout for the first of seven days of voting. In more recent rounds, that number has not slid below 57%.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission, currently governed by the Shiv Sena and BJP, has an annual budget of 20,000 crores, making it the richest civic body in India. The BMC's policies have huge impact on daily life in the financial capital.
"The quality of life is going down in this city and some improvement is needed urgently voting is a fundamental right and people should exercise it people must understand and should vote," said Deepak Parekh.
Parties pulled out the stops for their campaign - Uddhav and Bal Thackeray addressed rallies for the Shiv Sena; Raj Thackeray and his young son met voters for their party, the MNS; and the Congress and Sharad Pawar's party decided for the first time to fight the election as partners.
In the last BMC election in 2007, the voter turnout was 46%. And in 2009, just months after the devastation of 26/11, less than 50% of voters participated in the general elections and the state assembly elections.