BMC polls: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat casts vote

With polling commencing for the 227 municipal wards in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday cast his vote at a local school in Nagpur.

The local body polls would be witnessing a high pitch battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena, the Congress, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Notably, the Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and as well as at the Maharashtra Government, will be facing off with the latter after Uddhav Thackrey decided to part ways for the BMC polls.

Meanwhile, police has tightened security across the city ahead of Mumbai Municipal Corporations elections and are maintaining a strong vigil to avert any untoward incident across the 7,304 polling centres.

In order to prevent last minute luring of voters, Mumbai Police also conducted combing operations and checked vehicles with the help of flying squads of the state Election Commission.

Polling for 227 seats of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will be held between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm.

Reportedly, the police has taken preventive action against 3,000 people while 125 persons have been externed from the city.

Police personnel from special and crime branches have also been deployed outside the polling stations.