The recently concluded Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections recorded a voter turnout of 52.94 per cent, according to data released by the State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday.
The civic polls, held after a gap of eight years, concluded on Thursday and saw allegations raised by the Shiv Sena (UBT)–Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) alliance, which were later denied by the SEC.
The last BMC elections were conducted in 2017. The term of the previous elected mayor, Kishori Pednekar, ended in March 2022. With the completion of polling, Mumbai is set to have a new mayor after nearly four years.
As per the data, Ward 114 recorded the highest voter turnout at 65.53 per cent, while Ward 227 reported the lowest turnout at 20.88 per cent.
Out of 1,03,44,315 registered voters, 54,76,043 exercised their franchise. A total of 29,23,433 men and 25,52,359 women voted across the city’s 227 wards, along with 251 transgender voters. While men outnumbered women voters by about 6.9 lakh in absolute numbers, the percentage turnout among women stood slightly higher at 52.8 per cent compared to 52.2 per cent among men.
Around 1,700 candidates contested the elections across Mumbai’s 227 wards.
The undivided Shiv Sena had earlier been a dominant force in the BMC, winning 84 seats in the 2007 elections, while the BJP secured 82 seats. The party split in 2022 after Eknath Shinde broke away, later becoming deputy chief minister.
The BJP contested the polls in alliance with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, with the campaign also being seen as a test of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ development agenda. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray joined hands for the polls, focusing on the issue of Marathi identity.
Counting of votes for the BMC elections will begin today at 10 am at 23 designated counting centres across Mumbai. (ANI)
