The State Election Commission said on Friday that elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and 28 other municipal corporations will take place on January 15. The results will be counted on January 16. The news coincides with a developing political controversy in Mumbai around alleged “vote chori,” or vote fraud.
Opposition parties contend that electoral records have been bloated with fake and duplicate voters in advance of the vital city elections. While the Shiv Sena (UBT) has initiated a parallel, ground-level verification drive in all 227 civic wards, the BMC has started cleaning up the voter list.
The leaders of the Sena (UBT) assert that thousands of fraudulent and duplicate entries have been found by their employees. They contend that these irregularities could have a substantial impact on the results of the elections, which will determine the political and financial control of the nation’s capital.
The party claims that a large number of longtime residents—especially Marathi voters—were incorrectly labeled as “duplicate,” potentially endangering their ability to cast a ballot. Because it would be the first BMC election following the Shiv Sena split in 2022 and a direct confrontation with the Eknath Shinde-led faction, which is a member of the current BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, the civic polls are considered high-stakes, particularly for the Sena (UBT).
