With barely a day left for Mumbaikars to cast their ballot power, the keenly awaited Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections is likely to open up several possibilities in the politics of Maharashtra.
It is going to be a five corner contest with parties like BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS,NCP and Congress trying to outdo each other in the electoral battle of India’s richest Municipal corporation.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, both allies at centre and state, have parted ways for municipal elections after being together for 20 years. On 26 January, when Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray snapped the alliance with BJP for the civic polls, he said the Shiv Sena would henceforth contest all elections on its own.
With a city inhabiting over 2.2 crore people, only 46 lakhs votes were cast in 2012 civic polls, the average voter turn out was 44%.
Last civic polls saw highest voter turn out of 49 .5 % in S Ward while A ward recorded astoundingly low voter turn out of 34.2%. In 2007 polls, voter turn out was even lesser at 42%.
The lack of interest of voters could be attributed to non-performance of the corporators irrespective of their party and a not so friendly voting process. There are 227 wards and 91 lakh voters (50k Male+ 41 k female). On an average 42000 voters per ward so even a few hundred votes can sway the result in other’s favour.
Police have taken adequate security measures for smooth conduction of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.
21st February will also see Puneikars voting in Pune Municipal corporations civic polls.
As many as 1090 candidates are participating in the electoral battle. BJP, NCP, Shiv Sena are the high contenders for the crucial election
The number of seats in the Pune Municipal Corporation have been increased from 152 in 2012 to 162 in 2017, considering the steady rise in population in the respective areas.
