BMC election 2017: Your 7-point guide to everything you need to know
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is the richest civic body in the country, and needless to say that one who rules the BMC enjoys immense influence in political circles in Maharashtra and even Delhi.
Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and nine other civic bodies are underway and at stake is the prestige of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena.
Following a bitter fight for seats, the two parties are going solo this time with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnasis getting into ugly verbal duels in a no-holds barred election campaign.
Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) are also in the fray, but political pundits expect the BJP and the Sena to take the fight to the finish.
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- Of all the municipal corporations going to the polls today, all eyes are on the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election. BMC is the richest municipal corporation in the country, and needless to say that one who rules the BMC enjoys immense influence in political circles in Maharashtra and even Delhi.
- Roughly 92 lakh voters will decide the fate of 2,275 candidates who are in the fray for BMC election. A Sena citadel for the last two decades, the election will prove if Devendra Fadnasis-led BJP can storm the bastion on its own this time.
- A total of 3,210 seats are up for grabs in the 10 municipal corporations, 11 zila parishads and 118 panchayat samitis for which 17,331 candidates are in the running this time. Nearly 3.77 crore voters across Maharashtra will seal the fate of these candidates.
- There are 43,160 polling stations across the state, and polling has started at 7.30 am. More than 2.5 lakh election staff and an equal number of police personnel are on duty today.
- The 10 municipal corporations going to polls are: Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Akola, Amravati and Nagpur.
- Elections to 118 panchayat samitis in 10 disricts are also underway. These districts are: Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and Gadchiroli.
- More than 1.80 crore electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise in the zila parishads and panchayat samitis while 1.95 crore urban voters will cast their vote in 10 municipal corporations.
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