Civic elections were held in three Municipal Corporation Panvel, Bhiwandi and Malegaon in Maharashtra, on 24 May. The counting of these elections begins on 26 May, Friday. 55%, 53% and 60% of voters were witnessed respectively in each municipality. This is the first time Panvel is facing Municipal election, after it was upgraded to Municipal Corporation in October last year.
In the 78-seat Panvel Municipal Corporation, the contest is between Shiv Sena, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP), which has allied with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation is ruled by a Congress-Shiv Sena partnership, while NCP in alliance with Teesra Mahaj rules Malegaon Municipal Corporation.
Approximately 12.96 lakh people were eligible voters in these elections, as informed by the state election commission officials.
According to the officials, a total of 1251 candidates contested the civic elections on 252 seats across the three civic bodies. These candidates included 189 candidates from BJP, 152 from Congress, 144 from Shiv Sena, 90 from NCP, 32 from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), 46 from All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), 22 from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 4 from Janata Dal (U), 10 from Janata Dal (S) and 355 independents candidates.