Mumbai, Jan 13 (PTI) Campaigning for the high-stakes elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra culminated on Tuesday with all eyes fixed on the big fight for Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti
is making a strong pitch to control the BMC in the face of a challenge from a united Thackeray front.
Polling for the 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards will begin at 7.30 am and conclude at 5.30 pm on January 15. A total of 3.48 crore eligible voters will decide the fate of 15,931 candidates, including 1,700 in Mumbai and 1,166 in Pune.
The counting of votes will take place on January 16.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spearheaded the campaign for the ruling alliance, crisscrossing the state to canvas for Mahayuti candidates.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP, the third partner in the Mahayuti combine, was strategically excluded to attract "non-Hindu" voters, observers said.
The run-up to the elections saw the coming together of estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after 20 years, steadfast in their attempts to consolidate Marathi votes, while rival factions of the NCP joined hands for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Parbhani polls.
Notably, this would be the first Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election for the Shiv Sena since the 2022 split, which saw party leader Eknath Shinde leaving with a majority of the legislators, the party name and symbol. The undivided Shiv Sena ruled the country's richest civic body for 25 years.
The Congress party has also projected a strong image this election by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies — Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — in Mumbai.
The grand old party has aligned with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the capital, while opting to go solo in Nagpur.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of more than six years — their tenure ended between 2020 and 23. Of these, nine are in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), India's most urbanised belt.
The battlegrounds include Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Mumbai, 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.
Telangana Minister Mohammad Azharuddin, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai were star campaigners for the polls.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar campaigned for their candidates across the state, while the Thackeray cousins focused on Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where Uddhav addressed a rally.
Populist promises for women were the highlight of the manifestos of both the Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS.
The Mahayuti has promised a 50 per cent concession for women in BEST bus travel, while the Thackeray cousins have assured a Rs 1,500 monthly allowance for women domestic helps and a property tax waiver on houses up to 700 sq ft.
The Congress's manifesto, on the other hand, has focused on tackling pollution in Mumbai, improving the BEST fleet and the city's financial position.
The Mumbai mayor post dominated the campaign discourse, with the BJP alleging that the city would have a Muslim mayor if the Sena (UBT) is voted to power, while the Uddhav Thackeray-led party countered the claim with the assurance of a Marathi mayor.
CM Fadnavis also guaranteed that the mayor will be a "Hindu and Marathi".
In the final seat-sharing tallies for Mumbai, the BJP is contesting 137 seats, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena 90, while the NCP is fighting separately on 94 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded 163 candidates, the MNS 52, the Congress 143 and the VBA 46 in the city.
The Congress has fielded 1,263 candidates across the rest of the state. PTI MR ARU
