Campaigning for elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra ended today, with political focus firmly on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti is seeking to wrest control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation amid a challenge from a united Thackeray front.

 

Polling for 2,869 seats across 893 wards will be held on the 15th of this month from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm. Over 3 crore 48 lakh voters will decide the fate of 15,931 candidates. Counting of votes will take place on the 16th of this month.

 

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led the campaign for the ruling Mahayuti alliance, crisscrossing the state along with his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. The elections mark the first BMC polls after the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena, which had ruled the civic body for 25 years in its undivided form.

 

The run-up to the polls saw the coming together of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray after two decades, as they sought to consolidate Marathi votes, while the Congress contested independently in Mumbai and Nagpur, aligning with regional parties in the state capital.

 

Populist promises for women were the highlight of the manifestos of both the Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS. The Congress’s manifesto, on the other hand, has focused on tackling pollution in Mumbai and improving the BEST fleet and the city’s financial position.

 

Elections are being held after a gap of more than six years, with major civic bodies in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and cities such as Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Thane, Solapur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar going to the polls.

 

The State Election Commission has appealed to voters to participate peacefully and in large numbers.