Maharashtra local body polls see around 50 pc turnout amid row over indelible ink

Around 50 per cent polling was recorded in Mumbai and 28 other municipal corporations in Maharashtra on Thursday (January 15) amid a major controversy over claims that the ink applied on voters' fingers could be easily removed.

Speaking shortly after voting ended at 5.30 pm, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said the turnout in the 29 civic bodies was in the 46-50 per cent range. The exact polling figures will be declared later, another official said.

As per SEC data, the voter turnout was 41.13 per cent till 3.30 pm across the state. At 3:30 pm, Kolhapur led with a voter turnout of 50.85 per cent. It was 41.08 per cent in Mumbai, 36.95 per cent in Pune, 41.23 per cent in Nagpur, 43.67 per cent in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and 39.64 percent in Nashik.

Also read: 'BJP never used Hindutva for votes,' says Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Counting of votes will begin at 10 am on Friday, including 15 places in Mumbai. Final results are expected by 4 pm.

Voting for the civic polls, which are being held after nine years, kicked off at 7.30 am. Tight security arrangements were in place across Mumbai and will continue till 5.30 pm. The metropolis has 227 electoral wards.

In this election, the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India's largest and richest civic body. The Congress is contesting in alliance with smaller outfits such as Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Rashtriya Samaj Party, and the Republican Party of India (Gavai). The Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) is contesting the BMC elections independently.

Opposition flags irregularities

As voting commenced in the morning, social media was flooded with videos of ordinary voters, politicians, and some mediapersons using Acetone to wipe off the ‘indelible’ ink on their fingers after voting. The State Election Commission, however, rejected the allegations and warned of acting against those propagating such claims.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray claimed irregularities in the civic polls, terming it an attempt to murder democracy, and urged voters to dislodge the “brutal, fraud, corrupt and dictatorial regime” of the BJP. Uddhav and his cousin Raj Thackeray, who heads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, targeted the State Election Commission over a range of issues, besides claiming that the ink used on voters' fingers could easily be erased.

Addressing a news conference, Uddhav demanded the suspension of Waghmare, and alleged collusion between the poll body and the government. Terming the SEC an anti-constitutional body, Uddhav said, “Never ever such things (alleged irregularities) have happened before.” He alleged that the ink used by the poll commission could be erased using hand sanitisers.

Meanwhile, several Mumbaikars faced difficulties while voting in the civic polls, with complaints ranging from sudden changes in polling booths to errors and confusion in physical electoral rolls. Many voters said their long-standing polling stations had been shifted or merged without adequate prior information, forcing them to move between helpdesks to locate their names. Such commotion was reported at multiple polling stations across Mumbai, particularly during the morning hours.

Key urban power contest

Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7:30 am and concluded at 5:30 pm. A total of 15,931 candidates were in the poll fray.

In the BMC, the annual budget of which is over Rs 74,400 crore, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years, after a four-year delay. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.

Except for Mumbai, the other urban bodies have multi-member wards. These was also the first BMC election since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde, now Maharashtra's deputy chief minister, broke away with a majority of the party’s MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief minister. The undivided Shiv Sena held sway over India's richest civic body for 25 years (1997-2022).

Thackerays reunited

In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head 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 Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being 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 India.

Also read: Uddhav, Raj Thackeray reunite for BMC polls to protect Mumbai's Marathi identity

Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, 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.

(With agency inputs)