Maharashtra civic elections: Parties cross fingers as BMC polls counting begins

The counting began for 10 municipal corporations and 25 Zila Parishads across Maharashtra on Thursday as it would decide the future course of action of the ruling coalition, BJP and Shiv Sena which fought elections separately.

About 56 per cent voters had exercised franchise on Tuesday across 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including for the all-important Mumbai civic body BMC which recorded a 55 per cent turn-out.

BJP and its bickering ally in the state government Shiv Sena, who could not form an alliance for the civic poll in the megapolis or elsewhere this time, fought keenly, lashing out freely at each other during the bitter campaign.

The turn-out for 11 zilla parishads and 118 panchayat samiti polls was 69 per cent. The stakes are high for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, who led their respective parties from the front and were involved in a no-holds-barred campaign, relegating the Opposition Congress, the NCP and other players like the MNS and the AIMIM to the background.

Apart from Mumbai, the municipal corporations which went to the polls were Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.

In Mumbai, there were 2,275 candidates and 92 lakh voters. The first phase of 15 zilla parishads and 165 panchayat samitis polling was held on February 16 where 69 per cent voters exercised their franchise.