As voting for the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections ended on Thursday, several exit poll results have hinted at a big win for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.
The Axis My India and the JVC have predicted a major victory for the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
The JVC has predicted 138 seats for the BJP alliance and 59 for Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). It has predicted 23 seats for the Congress.
The Axis My India has predicted 131-151 seats for the BJP-Sena alliance while the Thackarey brothers is expected to bag 58-68 seats.
The Sakal Poll has predicted 119 seats for the BJP-Sena alliance and 75 seats for the Sena UBT. The Congress, it predicted, will get no more than 20 seats.
Voting in the keenly-watched civic body elections concluded on Thursday with around 50 per cent polling recorded in Mumbai and 28 other municipal corporations in Maharashtra.
Speaking shortly after voting ended at 5.30 pm, State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said the turnout in the 29 civic bodies was in the 46-50 per cent range.
The exact polling figures will be declared later, another official said.
Meanwhile, a controversy erupted during the polls, with opposition parties alleging that marker pens were being used instead of indelible ink to mark the voters' fingers, a move they claim could facilitate electoral malpractice.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray questioned the integrity of the election process, accusing the government of manipulating systems to secure electoral victories.
"They (the government) don't want the Opposition parties. The entire administration is being run by the government (to win the polls). This is not the sign of a healthy democracy. There is a limit to misuse of power," Thackeray said. He asked his party workers to stay alert against any malpractices by rival parties in the polls.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray called it an attempt to "murder" democracy. Dubbing the State Election Commission (SEC) an anti-constitutional body, he alleged collusion between the poll body and government, and demanded the suspension of SEC commissioner Dinesh Waghmare.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra State Election Commission issued a note asking the returning officers to apply the ink multiple times on the skin and nail of the finger so that it cannot be wiped out easily.
The poll body stated that action would be taken against those voters involved in erasing the ink and recasting votes.
“It is an offence to cast the votes twice. It is a criminal offence to do bogus voting. Legal action will be taken against such voters. The vigilance has been increased to prevent bogus voting. Proper name and address checking will take place at polling booths,” stated in the election commission note.
According to this order, the ink should be applied with a marker pen in such a way that it stands out clearly on the voter's finger. “The instructions have been given to returning officers earlier to apply ink by rubbing it on the nail and the skin above the nail three to four times, and this has also been mentioned on the marker pen,” it stated.
(With inputs from PTI)