As Mumbaikars went to polls in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections 2017 on February 23, Mumbai recorded a voter turnout of 32.1% till 1:30 PM. One of the key highlights of the elections is the active participation of the senior citizens who came out to caste their votes who claimed that they need a “change”.
“We are voting for change, corruption is there and voting is solution to remove it, I think all should exercise their right for change,” 73-year-old Shirish Deshpande from Bandra said.
However, on the negative side, there was not many facilities for the differently able people who also came out to vote. The polls saw some high spirited citizens who came out to vote despite facing some trouble. Among such people was Nandkumar Mishra from Elephinston, who came out to vote with a fractured leg. “It takes efforts nothing else. If I miss this time five years later I will regret and I don’t want that. My family asked me to rest but I left home,” he said.
Some of them who came out to vote could not cast their vote as their names were not there in the voters list. Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan who was seen coming out disappointed after not being able to cast his vote because his name was not in the voters list. He has affirmed that will take up the matter to the Eletion commission. Marathi Actor Manava Naik was also seen standing for half and hour as she couldn’t find her voting ID but did manage to cast her vote.
Elections to the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 227 municipal wards are underway on Tuesday. 2275 candidates are in the fray in what is being dubbed as a “mini-Assembly election”. Over 1.95 crore voters across the state are entitled to vote to choose representatives for ten city corporations. Apart from the ten civic bodies, the second phase of polling for 11 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) and 118 panchayat samitis is also underway where over 1.80 crore people can cast their votes.
–With inputs from Deven Lad, Mumbai
