Barring stray incidents of violence, polling to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai held on Thursday was largely peaceful.
Updated at 8.50 pm
MUMBAI: Barring stray incidents of violence, polling to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai held on Thursday was largely peaceful.
Around 58 per cent voters exercised their franchise in 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, with Mumbai recording 46 per cent voting as major parties made all out efforts to dominate the state's urban landscape.
Nine cases, including those of assault and bogus voting, were registered.
"Seven cases of bogus voting and two of assault were reported in the city apart from 10 non-cognisable cases and two local arms cases for illegal possession of weapons," City Police Commissioner AN Roy said here at the end of voting.
Three cases of bogus voting were registered at the JJ Marg police station, two at Vakola while one each was registered at the Samta Nagar and Kurla police stations, he told reporters.
There was a tussle between a Shiv Sena worker and a Congress activist at Samata Nagar, leading to both filing cases of assault against each other, Roy said.
Amit Satam, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Ward 63, alleged that supporters of his rival Salim Baig had assaulted him after he complained of bogus voters being sent by them in a polling booth.
"If anyone has any problem, let them complain. We have not received a complaint in this regard," Roy said.
Nandkumar Patil was arrested for allegedly trying to enter a polling booth with a country-made revolver, Roy said.
Apart from it, the brother of a candidate in Ward 49 was arrested for allegedly enticing voters by distributing sarees and violating the model code of conduct, he added.
Roy said adequate police protection will be in place on Friday at the vote counting centres and victory celebrations.
In Mumbai, where the Shiv Sena-BJP combine pulled out all stops to retain power in India's richest civic body, the voting percentage was better than that in the last polls.
State Election Commissioner Nand Lal said the percentage in Mumbai was more than the approximate 42 per cent recorded during the last BMC polls in 2002. Earlier today, he had said the percentage in Mumbai would be around 50.
Polling percentage in other municipal corporations where elections were held was: Thane 60, Ulhasnagar 46, Pune 57, Pimpri-Chinchwad 65, Nashik 60, Solapur 60, Akola 65, Amravati 65 and Nagpur 60.
In Ulhasnagar in neighbouring Thane, voting was stopped at four polling stations briefly after electronic voting machines were damaged by a mob in ward 27.
Polling resumed after poll officials removed "memory chips" in the machines and put in new EVMs, Nand Lal told reporters.
Counting of votes begins at 9 am on Friday and all results are expected around 4 pm, SEC sources said.
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