In spite of the rising mercury and searing heat, citizens of Mumbai voted for 2,275 candidates in 227 municipal wards in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on Tuesday.

Early trends show that more that 50 per cent votes were cast, pointing to a change in the city’s power politics.

There were reports of en mass deletion of names from the voter lists in certain wards.

In a way, the municipal election is seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has been facing a lot of friendly fire from ally Shiv Sena.

Senior Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai told BusinessLine that more that 10 lakh names have been deleted from the list, which runs to about 92 lakh, and therefore the voter base has shrunk. However, early indications point to about 7-8 per cent higher voting than the previous years. It would be advantageous to Shiv Sena and the party will remain undefeated in Mumbai. On the other hand, Shiv Sena’s ally, the BJP, is singing a different tune. Party spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said that voting percentage could rise as high as 54 to 55 per cent, which is similar to the past Assembly and Parliamentary elections. Such a high percentage has not happened in the past 25 years and it reflects a change in the mindset of the people. The BJP will definitely gain from higher numbers, he said.

He also added that the State Election Commission should revisit the reason for the mass deletion of names from the voter lists. Veteran political analyst Nagesh Kesari said that if the voting percentage touches 60 per cent then it is definitely pointing to a radical shift in the city’s power base. But the picture will only emerge late in the evening when all the number get collated. Opposition parties such as Congress and Nationalist Congress Party had a lot of ammunition against the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and the way they are running the city. However, they chose to remain silent on most of the issues. The reason for their silence is not known, he added.

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