BMC Mumbai Maharashtra Election Vote Counting Begins: Civic body elections were held for 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra on Thursday to determine the fate of nearly 16,000 candidates. The counting of votes began at 10:00 am — for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards up for grabs.
The spotlight has remained firmly on Mumbai over the past few weeks as the BJP-Sena combine faced off against the united Thackeray front for control of the richest civic body in the country. Municipal corporation polls were last held in the city in 2017 — when both the Shiv Sena and NCP were unified parties. Two other corporations to watch are Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, where rival factions of NCP (one on either side of the state government) have eschewed state-level allies to contest under a joint manifesto.
Phased counting of votes in Mumbai
Votes will be counted in batches for BMC — with two constituencies being tallied at a time. This could lead to a delay in announcing the winners once the enumeration process begins on Friday morning. The BMC has said that counting will begin at 10 am across 23 centres in the metropolis. But while other municipal corporations (such as Pune or those in the broader MMR region) begin counting for all seats simultaneously, Mumbai will start with merely 46 out of 227 wards.
What do the exit polls say?
The winning party or alliance will need 114 seats for a simple majority. Exit poll projections suggest a clear victory for the BJP-Sena combine — while the Thackeray brothers finish second. Congress and its allies have likely failed to put up a strong show. Exit polls though, don’t always get it right.
Axis My India
BJP + Shiv Sena – 131 to 151 seats
Shiv Sena (UBT) + MNS-NCP (SP) – 58 to 68 seats
Congress + VBA + RSP – 12 to 16 seats
Others – 6 to 12 seats.
DV Research
BJP + Shiv Sena – 107 to 122 seats
Shiv Sena (UBT) + MNS-NCP (SP) – 68 to 83 seats
Congress + VBA + RSP – 18 to 35 seats
Others – 8 to 15 seats
Janmat
BJP + Shiv Sena – 138 seats
Shiv Sena (UBT) + MNS-NCP (SP) – 62 seats
The poll has predicted a margin of error of plus or minus five seats.
Saam TV
BJP + Shiv Sena – 84 plus 35 seats
Shiv Sena (UBT) + MNS-NCP (SP) – 65 plus 10 seats
Congress + VBA + RSP – 23 seats
NCP (SP) – 3 seats
Others – 5 seats
Row over ink used for Maharashtra civic polls
The Maharashtra State Election Commission said it would conduct a thorough probe into the quality of `indelible’ ink in marker pens used on Thursday after opposition leaders said it was easily removable. Social media was flooded with videos claiming to demonstrate how the voter mark could be erased with various chemicals. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray also amplified the allegations — claiming it could be wiped completely with hand sanitiser. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has dismissed the claims.
“People come out, wipe the ink, and go back inside to vote again. Then they come out, wipe it again and re-enter. Is this what the government calls development?” the MNS chief said.
“This is for the first time, I have never seen the ink vanishing this way. This is a marker… The ink of the election is different, and this marker is different, which can be wiped off… There is definitely some tampering…” added Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab.
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