नवीनतम
Maharashtra civic elections campaigning to end today
MUMBAI [Maha Media]: Voting for 29 municipal corporations, including the BMC, in Maharashtra is scheduled for 15 January. More than 15,000 candidates are in the fray. In the BMC alone, there are a total of 227 wards, with 1,700 candidates contesting. The results will be announced on 16 January.
Meanwhile, a day before the end of campaigning, on Monday, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde targeted Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, holding him responsible for the plight of the Marathi people.
Shinde asked what Thackeray had done during the 25 years when his party held power in the BMC. It is noteworthy that before splitting into two factions, Shiv Sena controlled the BMC from 1997 to 2022.
Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who have come together after a 20-year gap for the civic polls, have made Marathi identity (pride) their main election issue.
Out of the 227 seats in the Mumbai municipal body, 32 seats will see a direct contest between the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) alliance and Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. This situation has arisen because the Congress-Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi (VBA) alliance did not field any candidates on these seats.
So far, Congress has announced 143 candidates in Mumbai. The VBA is contesting on 46 seats, and six seats have been allocated to other allies, including leftist parties and the Rashtriya Samaj Party. This means the Congress-led alliance has fielded candidates on 195 seats.
As a result, 32 seats remain without a third-front candidate, ensuring there will be no split in votes.
