<p>Voting to decide the fate of 29 municipal corporations acros <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=Maharashtra">Maharashtra</a> began on Thursday with Mumbai being the key focus. </p><p>In the state capital, the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=BJP">BJP</a>-led Mahayuti alliance will battle it out against the united Thackeray cousins in a bid to control India's largest and richest civic body. </p><p>Across the 29 municipal corporations, 2,869 seats are spread in 893 wards. Voting began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.</p>.Maharashtra civic elections: Here is what is open and closed today in Mumbai during BMC polls.<p>In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) alone, which has an annual budget of Rs 74,400 crore, 1,700 candidates are fighting for 227 seats. </p><p>Civic body polls in the state are being held after nine years, while the counting will take place on Friday (January 16). </p><p>Further, these are the first BMC polls since the Shiv Sena split when Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde broke away with a majority of party members in 2022. </p><p>The undivided Shiv Sena had asserted dominance over the BMC for over 25 years from 1997 to 2022.</p>.Opposition flags unopposed election of 68 Maha Yuti corporators to Maharashtra SEC.<p>In a stunning turn of events during the run up to the polls, feuding cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, respectively, reunited after two decades in an attempt to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.</p><p>Once a big player in Maharashtra, the Congress stepped out of the shadow of the Maha Vikas Agadi allies, including Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). </p><p>The grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in Mumbai.</p><p>The terms of most municipal corporations ended between 2020 and 2023. </p><p> Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.</p><p>Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji. </p>
<p>Voting to decide the fate of 29 municipal corporations acros <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=Maharashtra">Maharashtra</a> began on Thursday with Mumbai being the key focus. </p><p>In the state capital, the <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/search?q=BJP">BJP</a>-led Mahayuti alliance will battle it out against the united Thackeray cousins in a bid to control India's largest and richest civic body. </p><p>Across the 29 municipal corporations, 2,869 seats are spread in 893 wards. Voting began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.</p>.Maharashtra civic elections: Here is what is open and closed today in Mumbai during BMC polls.<p>In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) alone, which has an annual budget of Rs 74,400 crore, 1,700 candidates are fighting for 227 seats. </p><p>Civic body polls in the state are being held after nine years, while the counting will take place on Friday (January 16). </p><p>Further, these are the first BMC polls since the Shiv Sena split when Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde broke away with a majority of party members in 2022. </p><p>The undivided Shiv Sena had asserted dominance over the BMC for over 25 years from 1997 to 2022.</p>.Opposition flags unopposed election of 68 Maha Yuti corporators to Maharashtra SEC.<p>In a stunning turn of events during the run up to the polls, feuding cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, respectively, reunited after two decades in an attempt to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.</p><p>Once a big player in Maharashtra, the Congress stepped out of the shadow of the Maha Vikas Agadi allies, including Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). </p><p>The grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in Mumbai.</p><p>The terms of most municipal corporations ended between 2020 and 2023. </p><p> Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.</p><p>Voting is underway in the following municipal corporations: Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Akola, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Chandrapur, Parbhani, Mira-Bhayandar, Nanded-Waghala, Panvel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Latur, Malegaon, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Jalna and Ichalkaranji. </p>
