Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 16 (ANI): Counting for more than 200 Municipal wards of the Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started at 10 AM on Friday. The elections for India's richest corporation were held after a gap of 8 years, with the city set to choose its new mayor from the 227 corporators which will be elected today.

In the 2017 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena had secured 84 seats out of the total 227. While being in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party at that point, the alliance had secured the halfway mark of 114 seats, with the BJP winning 82 seats.

The undivided Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chad won 9, while Congress won 31.

The recently concluded Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded a voter turnout of 52.94 per cent, according to the data released by the State Election Commissioner (SEC) on Friday.

The elections were marred with allegations by the Shiv Sena (UBT)- MNS alliance, and subsequently refuted by the SEC.

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.

According to the data released, the highest turnout was recorded in Ward 114, at around 65.53 per cent, whereas the lowest turnout was recorded in Ward 227, at 20.88 per cent.

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.

The exit polls have predicted a victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, with the Thackeray brothers finishing second and Congress and its allies failing to put up a strong show.

According to Axis My India's predictions, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is poised to win 131-151 seats; the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS-NCP (SP) alliance 58-68 seats; the Congress-VBA-RSP alliance 12-16 seats; and others 6-12 seats.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls were held for 227 seats, and a party or alliance needs 114 seats for a simple majority.

The Axis My India also made vote-share predictions, projecting a 42% vote share for the Mahayuti allies (BJP 28%, Shiv Sena 14%). It predicted Shiv Sena (UBT) getting 24 per cent votes, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) 7 per cent and NCP (SP) one per cent. The three parties fought the polls as allies.

According to DV Research, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is poised to win 107-122 seats; the Thackeray brothers' alliance 68-83 seats; the Congress-led alliance 18-25 seats; and others 8-15 seats. (ANI)