BMC elections: Post-voting, Shiv Sena, BJP claim tide in their favour in Mumbai

The big poll focus is on Brihanmumbai Municipal Cooperation (BMC), retaining control of which is vital for Shiv Sena as the city has remained its prime political space ever since the party's formation in 1966.

Mumbai: Minutes after voting ended in Mumbai on Tuesday, the Shiv Sena and BJP rushed to claim a tide in their favour going by the turnout for the polls to the country's richest civic body. In Mumbai, the polling percentage was 41.32 per cent till 3.30 pm, closer to the turnout of 45 per cent in 2012. Though the final figure was not yet known, officials said the overall percentage will be higher than the last time. Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said "a massive" turnout in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls means there is a "big wave" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his demonetisation exercise. "The massive voter turnout indicates that people are with the Shiv Sena and there is a big wave against Modi and demonetisation that caused endless hardship to people. The Sena is the only choice of people," Sawant said. "The way Uddhavji addressed his rallies, full of passion, aggression and concern for people, has touched the minds and hearts of people. This prompted them to vote for the party in large numbers," he added. Sawant said the BJP wanted to obliterate the Sena but people have "something else" in mind. "Higher voter turnout means people are yearning for a change and they are in our favour. We had appointed people at booth levels to draw out voters from their homes," said BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari. The country's commercial capital and the richest civic body has generally recorded a dismal voter turnout but this year officials are hopeful of a change. All that happened today during BMC polls 2017:

• Neck and neck fight between Shiv Sena&BJP in #MaharashtraCivicPolls : Exit Poll SENA- 86-92 BJP- 80-88 CONG- 30-34 NCP-3-6 MNS-5-7 OTH-2-7: India Today exit poll

 

#BMCPolls2017 : @iamsrk and @vivek_oberoi cast votes https://t.co/JQJlKYWHWM pic.twitter.com/busDLY59Er

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) February 21, 2017

• 41.32% voterturnout till 3:30 pm
• My name has not shown up in the list unfortunately,its bizarre because I voted last year.Will find out from EC where is my name: Varun Dhawan
• Varun Dhawan arrived to cast his vote at a polling booth in Mumbai, says "upsetting that I couldn't find my name on the voter list"
• Kiran Rao casts vote: BMC poll

• Ranveer Singh, Shraddha Kapoor cast vote

Image: Shraddha Kapoor casts her vote in BMC poll on Tuesday. (Photo Courtesy/Twitter)

• BJP's Shaina NC was able to cast her vote later after the authorities helped her with the formalities.
• John Abraham came on his 1700 cc Yahama bike

Image: Facebook/File Photo Image courtesy: Twitter

• Don't complaint, vote, says actor John Abraham
• Film director and screenwriter Zoya Akhtar casts her vote at a polling booth in Bandra

• Senior Congress leader & former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde casted his vote for civic body polls in Solapur.
• Raj Thackeray casts vote: BMC polls 2017

BMC polls: Raj Thackeray casts vote on Tuesday (Image: ABP Live)

• Shaina NC arrived to cast her vote at Napansea Rd polling booth on a cycle; could not find her name in the voter's list

• Nagpur civic body polls: Nitin Jayram Gadkari casts his vote.

• Sharad Pawar casts his vote at polling booth no. 214(11) located in Mahalaxmi

BMC polls 2017: Sharad Pawar casts his vote at polling booth no. 214(11) located in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai on Tuesday. (Image: ABP Live)

• Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai Ajoy Mehta casts his vote at polling booth number 214 (18), located at Mumbai's Pedder Road
• Deepak Parekh, chairman HDFC casts his vote,says, demonetisation has nothing to do with these polls & we need to move on.
• Veteran actress Rekha casts her vote in Bandra, Mumbai.

Actress Rekha casts her vote in BMC poll on Tuesday. (Image: ABP Live)

• Voting to continue till 5:30 pm.
• Tina Ambani casts her vote at a polling booth in Colaba, says she voted for good work in Mumbai city

• Voting in elections to BMC & 9 other civic bodies, in multiple cities of Maharashtra starts.

BMC poll 2017: Polling underway at a polling booth located in Bandra's Navjeevan Vidyamandir School in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Image: ANI-Twitter)

• Nagpur: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat casts his vote at a polling booth in Bharat Mahila Vidyalaya

• Voting in elections to BMC & 9 other civic bodies, in multiple cities of Maharashtra starts
• Voting in civic body poll starts in multiple cities of Maharashtra at 7.30 am.

Image: MBC poll (ANI-Twitter) Controlled by the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for four terms, the BMC has a budget of Rs 37,052 crore for the current year (2016-2017) catering to a population of around 18.30 million. In comparison, neighbouring Goa's budget last year was around Rs 14,700 crore. Voting in the first few hours averaged around 18 per cent in other civic bodies like Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur, Election Commission officials said. A generous dose of glamour, glitz and power play was visible in Mumbai at the 7,304 booths to elect 227 BMC corporators from among 2,275 candidates. Maharashtra Election Commissioner J.S. Saharia was among the early voters. And so were Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Pawar, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray. Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam, Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar, Mumbai NCP President Sachin Ahir, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, outgoing mayor Snehal Ambekar and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi also voted by noon. Chief Minister Fadnavis and his wife Amruta voted in Nagpur. So did Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Among the Bollywood personalities who voted -- and asked everyone to vote too -- were Rekha, who was in a white sari with dark glasses, actors Prem Chopra, Kamini Kaushal, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor, John Abraham and Shreyas Talpade, renowned poet Gulzar and filmmaker Subhash Ghai. Several teleserial actors and Marathi film stars too exercised their franchise. Two nervous grooms in wedding attire, Ankit Lende from Colaba and Mahesh Navale from Parel, voted before proceeding for their marriage rituals. People at the polling booths cheered and complimented them. An electorate of 3.77 crore shall decide the fate of 17,331 candidates for 5,512 seats, including 1,268 in 10 municipal corporations, 2,956 in 11 Zilla Parishads and 1,288 seats in 118 Panchayat Samitis. A total of 43,160 polling booths have come up in the state. The results will be declared on Thursday. BMC: Counting of votes to take place on Thursday: Counting of the votes would take place on Thursday. The voting percentage in the BMC polls held in 2007 and 2012 stood at 42% and 45% respectively. Facts about BMC:

• The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
• BMC is India's richest municipal organization.
• BMC's annual budget is more than that of some of the small states of India.
• BMC was established under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act 1888.
• BMC is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city and some suburbs of Mumbai.
• Trishna Vishwasrao, in 2014, became the first female corporator to be leader of the Corporation's house.

(With inputs from IANS)