BMC elections 2017: 'Record' 55 per cent turnout registered; has Mumbai finally got a civic sense?

The prestigious electoral battle for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which took place on Tuesday (Feb 21) ended with a turnout of 55 per cent, way better than the figures that were recorded in the previous three elections.

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The election, which is being seen as a referendum on the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, saw 2,275 candidates in the fray in 227 municipal wards under the corporation.

All four major parties – the Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party – participated in the election with zeal, with an eye on the next Assembly elections in 2019, which also happens to be the year of the next Lok Sabha poll.

Besides the big four, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul of Asaduddin Owaisi were also in the fight to make a bigger mark in the state's politics.

The high turnout will keep observers of the state's politics interested until the results come out on February 23. Nearly 2 crore people were eligible to vote in the 10 urban body polls that took place on Tuesday, including that for the BMC. Besides, 11 zilla parishads and 118 panchayat samitis also went to the polls on Tuesday and the number of people eligible to vote in those elections was 1.8 crore. However, several people, including some celebrities, missed out since their names were not present in the voters' list.

While the BMC elections in 2002 saw a low turnout of 43.25%, the figures went up to 46.14% in 2007, but came down again to 44.85% in 2012. The beyond-the-50-point-mark turnout this time will certainly keep the parties on their toes on Thursday. 

As per the preliminary figures released by the state election commission, these are the turnout percentages of other cities that went to the polls on Tuesday: Thane: 53.11 per cent, Nagpur 49.95 per cent, Pune 49.52 per cent, Pimpri-Chinchwad 51.86 per cent, Ulhasnagar: 46.83 per cent, Nashik 52.63 per cent, Solapur 44 per cent, Akola 42.39 per cent and Amravati 51.62 per cent.

Maharahstra's CM Fadnavis congratulated voters for the 'record' turnout in a tweet later on Tuesday.