30-year hold of Thackerays to end? Amid ink row, Mumbai sees high voting; exit polls give BMC to BJP+ | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: The city that doesn’t sleep, and doesn’t really care about voting, turned out in relatively creditable numbers for the BMC elections, held on Thursday after nine years. In 2017, it broke a 25-year record when it hit 55%, and while the final official turnout is expected only on Friday, state election commission officials expect it to be in the range of 54-56% – despite widespread complaints of voters not being able to exercise their franchise because of names missing or booths being changed without advance notice.Most exit polls gave the BJP-Shiv Sena combine a clear edge against the Thackeray cousins, which would end the 30-year incumbency of the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit in India’s richest civic body.While Axis My India predicted a comfortable win for BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Sena, predicting the alliance would bag 131-151 seats out of 227 and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS combine 58-68 seats, Saam TV (of the Sakal Group) said the BJP-Sena would win 119 and Thackeray cousins 77. The undivided Sena had won 84 seats in the last BMC polls in 2017 and BJ.The maximum number of seats exit polls gave Congress was 25, a drop from last time’s 30-plus. The two NCPs were marginal players in the Mumbai election. It was the use of marker pens instead of indelible ink to identify those who had voted that became the main controversy. The opposition accused State EC of colluding with the Mahayuti alliance and claimed the pen mark could be easily erased, paving the way for bogus voting.BJP-led Mahayuti on Thursday struck a confident note after polling concluded, projecting a strong performance not just in the financial capital but in urban bodies statewide.

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BMC’s term had expired four years ago but polls were delayed due to, among other reasons, the Covid pandemic and court cases over delimitation. The campaign was marked by sharp polarisation around the ‘Marathi Manoos’ identity and high levels of communal rhetoric with CM Devendra Fadnavis calling for a Marathi and Hindu mayor. Allegations of money being distributed to voters and to candidates to withdraw were rife through the run-up to the poll.The bitter showdown between BJP and Sena’s Mahayuti alliance and the Uddhav and Raj Thackeray combine is seen to have brought citizens out in larger numbers to elect local corporators.While the overall polling percentage in the state and the turnout in Mumbai was seen to be respectable, voting could have been even higher if a section of voters had not had problems locating their polling booths. In Navi Mumbai, state forest minister Ganesh Naik among others could not find his name on the voter list in two polling centres. “If a minister like me can face a situation where his name is missing from the voters’ list, then one can imagine what might be happening to common voters,” he said.On the ink row, Uddhav demanded suspension of state election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare and action against him and BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani for irregularities in the polling process. Fadnavis claimed opposition was looking for something to blame for their imminent electoral loss. Except for one case of bogus voting being detected (and one in Jalgaon), polling was seen to be largely peaceful on Thursday. On the issue of polling booth confusion, SEC Waghmare said, “Since civic polls have not been held since 2017, voters got confused and looked at their assembly booths. Also, they checked their booths on EC website instead of the BMC site.” Waghmare said he expected the voting percentage to be higher by 5% from previous civic elections. “It was around 55% in the last elections and it is likely to go up to 60% in these polls,” he said.By evening, state election officials estimated Pune city had nearly 54% voting, while Pimpri Chinchwad saw 58%. Mumbai clocked an impressive 52%, with the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region also reporting good turnouts. Among other corporations, Kolhapur was leading with 70%, 60% in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik had 58%, Ahilyanagar 64%, Malegaon 63%, Jalgaon 53% and Dhule 52%. With duplicate voters being a major concern before the polls, the MNS deployed “saffron guards” outside several polling booths. Fadnavis dismissed them, saying, “They will have no impact. If they act up, the police will take action.” BJP and Sena netas claimed development work and governance stability had resonated with urban voters this time.