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Mumbai:
In a show of voter apathy, Mumbai Thursday marked a turnout of 45
percent in elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
In all the 10 Maharashtra municipal corporations, where voting
took place during the day, the average voter turnout was around 54
percent, official sources said here.
A total of 3.5 crore voters were registered to elect 1,244
councillors, including 624 women, in Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar,
Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nashik, Akola, Amravati and
Nagpur municipal corporations.
According to officials of the state election commission, Solapur,
Nashik and Amravati municipal corporations recorded the highest
voter turnout at 58 percent.
Akola was a close second at 57 percent.
Mumbai voters showed little interest. About 45 percent voters
voted for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the
richest civic body in India.
A top Mumbai civic official, however, said that the voter
percentage had gone up by three percent as compared to 2007.
"This year, Mumbai has seen voting from nearly 43.6 lakh persons
as against 38 lakh voters in the 2007 municipal elections. The
voter turnout this time is about 45 percent," BMC Commissioner
Subodh Kumar told reporters here.
Kumar said that this year there were more voter registrations.
"During the 2007 municipal elections, Mumbai had 83.88 lakh
registered voters. This year, the number has gone up by around 19
lakh taking the total to 1.03 crore," he said.
He said that the rise in number of registered voters may be owing
to more awareness. "The population per se has not gone up, but
more people are coming forward to register themselves as voters,"
he said.
Kumar said that the chances of bogus voting were minimal. "There
might be dummy names or duplicate names in the voting lists, but
it is unlikely that they cast their votes twice," he said.
Thane city, adjacent to Mumbai, registered a voter turnout of 52
percent while Ulhasnagar municipal corporation in Thane district
registered a voter turnout of a mere 43 percent.
Pune registered a turnout of 53 percent while the adjoining
Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation registered a turnout of 56
percent. Nagpur registered a turnout of 55 percent.
The counting of votes will start Friday at 7.30 a.m. in municipal
corporation of Thane, while in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad it will
start at 8 a.m. The counting in other corporations will start at 9
a.m.
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