Mumbai, Jan 15 (NationPress) Today marks a significant day as voting takes place for elections across 29 civic bodies in Maharashtra, including the esteemed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The polls are being conducted under stringent security measures.

All eyes are on Mumbai, where the ruling BJP-led MahaYuti is locked in a fierce battle against the reunited Thackeray cousins, Raj and Uddhav, vying for control of the country's wealthiest civic body.

A total of 2,869 seats are up for grabs across 893 wards, with approximately 3.48 crore voters eligible to choose from 15,931 candidates in these municipal elections.

In the BMC alone, which boasts an annual budget exceeding Rs 74,400 crore, nearly 1,700 candidates are competing for 227 seats in polls that have been postponed for four years.

Vote counting for all 29 municipal corporations will commence on January 16. These civic elections are being held after more than six years, following the expiry of local body terms between 2020 and 2023, attributed to various legal and administrative challenges.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has led the ruling coalition's campaign, traveling throughout the state to garner support for MahaYuti candidates, which include the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

This election also represents the first BMC polls since the split of the Shiv Sena in 2022, when Shinde departed with the backing of a majority of the party's MLAs. The undivided Shiv Sena held the BMC for 25 years, from 1997 to 2022.

The race for Mumbai's mayoral position has emerged as a critical issue during the campaign.

The BJP has asserted that a victory for the Shiv Sena (UBT) could result in a Muslim mayor, a claim that Uddhav Thackeray's party has vehemently denied, insisting that Mumbai will have a Marathi mayor. Fadnavis has also claimed that the next mayor will be both Hindu and Marathi.

In Mumbai, the BJP is contesting 137 seats, while the Shiv Sena is competing for 90 seats, and the NCP is entering the race separately for 94 seats. The Shiv Sena UBT has nominated 163 candidates, the MNS 52, Congress 143, and the VBA 46 candidates.

Congress has fielded a total of 1,263 candidates across the rest of Maharashtra.

To facilitate the smooth operation of polling and counting for the BMC elections, over 25,000 police personnel have been deployed throughout Mumbai.

In a noteworthy political maneuver before the elections, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray have reunited after nearly two decades to consolidate Marathi votes.

Simultaneously, rival factions of the NCP have formed a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.