Maharashtra polls: BJP confident of majority in Pune, leads in 49 seats

Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol expressed confidence in BJP's win in the Pune Municipal Corporation polls, citing early trends where the party leads in 49 of 165 seats. The BJP is also leading in Nagpur, while vote counting continues across the state.

While the vote counting continues for a total of 29 Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra on Friday, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murlidhar Mohol expressed confidence in the party winning a comfortable majority in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). "In the early trends, it is clear that BJP is winning with a full mandate. I had faith that Pune always thinks of development before voting, which is why the BJP is coming to power with a full majority," he said.

Early Trends Across Maharashtra

According to the latest trends vote counting for PMC polls, the BJP is leading in 49 out of 165 seats, while the NCP-NCP alliance is leading in only 6. The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance is on third place with a lead on only 4 seats. Meanwhile, in Nagpur, BJP is leading in 76 out of 151 seats, while the Congress only leads in 22.

Vote count for Thane Municipal Corporation also had the BJP-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) alliance leading in 21 out of 131 seats, while the NCP (Ajit Pawar) leads in 6. The UBT-MNS-NCP(SP) alliance is also leading in 6 seats.

BMC Elections and Voter Turnout

Meanwhile, in the vote counting for electing India's richest municipal corporation, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were marred by allegations by the Shiv Sena (UBT)- MNS alliance, and subsequently refuted by the SEC. The elections, which were conducted after a gap of eight years, marked a significant civic exercise for Mumbai. The previous BMC elections were held in 2017, while the term of the last elected mayor, Kishori Pednekar, ended in March 2022. With the completion of the polls, Mumbai is set to get a new mayor after nearly four years.

Out of the total 1,03,44,315 voters in the electoral roll, a total of 54,76,043 exercised their right to vote. In total numbers of voters, around 3.7 lakh men exercised their franchise compared to women.

A total of 29,23,433 men voted across the 277 wards, 25,52,359 women, and 251 transgender electors also cast their votes.

Historical Context: 2017 Municipal Elections

In 2017, the BJP had ruled in 15 Municipal corporations, including Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Latur and more. The then undivided Shiv Sena led by corporations, including Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan Dombivli, Ahilya Nagar and more. Congress also led five municipalities, namely Bhiwandi Nijampur, Malegaon, Kolhapur, Parbhani, and Nanded (ANI)

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