BMC polls 2017: Who will win the battle for country's richest civic body?

Mumbai: Polling for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – country's richest civic body - along with nine other municipal corporations in Maharashtra began on Tuesday amid tight security. Dubbed as 'mini assembly elections' of Maharashtra, here's all you should know about the BMC civic polls.

-BMC is the most cash rich corporation in the country with an annual budget of 37,000 crores.

-Polling for 227 seats of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will be held between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm.

-At other places, voting will begin at 7.30 am and conclude at 5.30 pm.

-The Mumbai Police has taken preventive action against 3,000 people while 125 persons have been externed from the city.

-Police personnel from special and crime branches have also been deployed outside the polling stations.

The poll counting for 23 centres in Mumbai will be done on February 23.

A polling official cross checks the numbers on electronic voting machines at a distribution center for up comeing Bmc Election on Monday.

-The stakes are high for the BJP and Shiv Sena - the friend-turned opponents in the state. 

-The Shiv Sena, which had been ruling the BMC with the BJP for several years, decided to fight elections alone this time after a falling apart with its long-time ally over the seat-sharing issue.

-A political battle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena ahead of the civic polls has deteriorated the relationship between the parties and the results could also change the course of the state's affairs.

-Dubbed as a “mini Assembly election”, the elections have turned into a battle of prestige for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who is heading the state’s first BJP-led government, and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

-Holding the status of the biggest municipal corporation in the country, BMC will witness competitive elections with 2,275 candidates in the fray for 227 seats. 

-More than 7,297 polling centres and over 1.95 crore voters across the state are entitled to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for ten-city corporations.

-Parties like Congress, NCP and MNS are also contesting the BMC polls.

-Drinking water, roads and garbage are the key issues for the BMC polls this year.

-On January 26, Uddhav Thackeray announced that the party will not go for an alliance with the BJP in the upcoming polls. Sena also ruled out the possibility of a pre-poll pact with BJP, alleging that the saffron has hired ‘gundas’ (goons) in the party as they can’t fight against the Shiv Sena ‘sainiks’. 

-This year, while Shiv Sena will contest alone on all the 227 seats, the BJP will contest only 195 seats in the 227-member BMC polls. Shiv Sena has ruled BMC for 19 years.

-Apart from the ten civic bodies elections, the second phase of polling for 11 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) and 118 panchayat samitis will also be conducted on Tuesday. Over 1.80 crore people can cast their votes in the ZP and panchayat samiti polls. 

-State Election Commissioner J S Saharia said, “Collectively, 3.77 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 17,331 candidates in rural and urban areas, including Mumbai.”