Maharashtra civic elections 2026: Counting of votes begins across state

Counting of votes polled in elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Friday morning with the spotlight on Mumbai where the BJPled Mahayuti bloc is locked in a prestige battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of Indias richest civic bodySeats wards and candidates at stakePolling for 2869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations including 227 in Mumbai took place on Thursday As many as 15931 candidates are in the fray in the 29 civic corporations which had 348 crore eligible votersAround 50 per cent polling was recorded in the 29 municipal corporations State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said after the end of votingMumbai turnout dips compared to 2017A voter turnout of 5294 per cent was recorded in the Mumbai civic polls down from 5553 per cent in the last elections in 2017 officials said on FridayIn the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC whose annual budget is over Rs 74400 crore 1700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after a fouryear delay Except for Mumbai the other urban bodies have multimember wardsFirst BMC polls since Shiv Sena splitThese were the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde now Deputy Chief Minister broke away with a majority of the partys MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief ministerThe undivided Shiv Sena held sway over Indias richest civic body for 25 years 19972022 The BJPled Mahayuti alliance which also includes the Shiv Sena is hoping for a clear majority to rule the civic bodyThackeray cousins reunite to consolidate Marathi votesIn a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray heading Shiv Sena UBT and MNS respectively reunited last month after two decades in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and PimpriChinchwadCongress asserts presence with new alliancesThe Congress once a formidable political force in Maharashtra asserted its presence in Mumbai by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena UBT and NCP SP The grand old party joined hands with Prakash Ambedkars Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi VBA and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state capitalCivic polls held after prolonged gapElections to the 29 municipal corporations were held after a gap of several years with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023 Of these nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR the most urbanised belt in IndiaList of municipal corporations where voting was heldVoting took place in these municipal corporations Mumbai Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Navi Mumbai VasaiVirar KalyanDombivli Kolhapur Nagpur Solapur Amravati Akola Nashik PimpriChinchwad Pune Ulhasnagar Thane Chandrapur Parbhani MiraBhayandar NandedWaghala Panvel BhiwandiNizampur Latur Malegaon SangliMirajKupwad Jalgaon Ahilyanagar Dhule Jalna and IchalkaranjiWith inputs from Agencies