Mumbai corp poll results: Sena-BJP fall short of majority

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appears all set for a hung house as no party or combine appears to be in a position to secure a clear majority. Of the total of 227 seats, results have been declared for 192 seats. The ruling Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI combine may end up winning the maximum number of seats as the Shiv Sena has won 60, BJP 31 and RPI one and they are ahead in 12 more seats, but their performance is well short of half way mark of 114 seats required to retain control of India’s richest municipal body. The Congress has won 40 seats, its ally NCP has got 12. The MNS has emerged victorious in 26 seats; while others have bagged 19 seats. Of the 35 seats for which counting are underway, Shiv Sena is ahead in 10 seats, Congress is wining in eight, NCP in four seats. Raj Thackeray’s MNS is ahead in two seats, RPI in two, while others are marching towards victory in nine seats - till 14.05 pm when last updates came in. There are a total of 227 seats in BMC for which 2232 candidates are in the fray, counting began at 9 am on Friday. The Sena-BJP combine needs to win 114 seats to retain control. Incumbent Mayor of Mumbai, Shradha Jadhav, has won her seat. The polling was held yesterday in Mumbai along with in nine other municipal bodies across the state. Mumbai marked a turnout of only 45 percent; however, a top civic offi cial said that the voter percentage has gone up by three percent as compared to 2007. Billed as a mini-Assembly election, the polls are not just a test for Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray and his son Uddhav Thackeray but is also a pointer of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s strength in state politics. While the Sena is desperately trying to extend its 16-year rule in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for another fi ve years in alliance with BJP and Ramdas Athavale’s RPI, the Congress has stitched up an alliance with NCP for the fi rst time for the civic body polls.