Shiv Sena Leader Votes Amid BMC Poll Glitches, Urges Public Participation

Dubey said the Election Commission (EC) website was not functioning properly and urged citizens to leave their homes to cast votes. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader claimed that the candidate for whom he cast his vote was not displayed on the digital screen.

"We want everyone to come out and cast their votes. I experienced some inconvenience, but I was able to vote at another booth. The Election Commission's website is not functioning smoothly as it should. This time, the candidate being voted for is not being displayed on the digital screen, as it used to be. People are complaining in the entire city. Such lapses should not occur. People must vote for development," Dubey told ANI.

29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra have gone to the polls today as a high-voltage campaign came to an end, setting the stage for a decisive political contest in key urban centres including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The Mahayuti is contesting the local body polls largely together, except in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to ally with Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).

In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have come together under a joint manifesto.

The main political battle remains centred on Mumbai and Pune, where the BJP-led Mahayuti will face the united Thackeray camp, as just ahead of the civic polls, Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray joined hands on the issue of "son of the soil" in a high-stakes fight for control of the BMC, the country's richest civic body.

The last BMC elections were held in 2017.

In Pune, in a major political realignment, both factions of the NCP came together just before the civic polls for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), following a split in 2023. Ajit Pawar joined hands with Sharad Pawar again and contested against the NDA partner BJP in Pune, whereas Shivsena, led by Eknath Shidne opted to go solo in PMC after failing to set up an acceptable seat-sharing formula with BJP.

According to the State Election Commission (SEC), a total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39092 Polling centre has been set up across the state.

Polling will be held on January 15 from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm, with vote counting scheduled to begin on Friday, January 16.

- ANI