In the backdrop of allegations of the use of fading indelible ink in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections that took place on January 15, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of “gaslighting” voters, saying public trust in the electoral process has been eroded.
Sharing an article from a Mumbai-based daily, that highlighted voter concerns about the indelible ink, Gandhi said in a post on X that “vote chori” (vote theft) is an anti-national act.
“Election commission gaslighting citizens is how trust has collapsed in our democracy. Vote Chori is an anti-national act,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, early leads being reported from vote counting of the BMC elections show the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena Mahayuti alliance leading in around 52 wards, according to preliminary data that is coming in from the counting of postal ballots. The official figures from the SEC and the BMC are awaited.
According to the postal ballots counted till now, the BJP has a lead in 35 seats, Shiv Sena has 17 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is reported to be leading in 22 seats, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray, is leading in 8 seats till now. The Congress has 4 leads from the initial count.
The elections had recorded a voter turnout of 52.94 per cent, according to the data released by the State Election Commissioner (SEC) today.
Also Read: BMC polls: Early trends show Fadnavis-Shinde in the lead
Conducted after a gap of eight years, the elections for India’s richest municipal corporations this year were marred by allegations by the Shiv Sena (UBT)- MNS alliance, and subsequently refuted by the SEC.
The previous BMC elections were held in 2017, while the term of the last elected mayor, Kishori Pednekar, ended in March 2022. With the completion of the polls, Mumbai is set to get a new mayor after nearly four years.
Out of the total 1,03,44,315 voters in the electoral roll, a total of 54,76,043 exercised their right to vote, in which 29,23,433 men voted across the 277 wards, 25,52,359 women voted, and 251 transgender electors also cast their votes.
The exit polls had predicted a victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, with the Thackeray brothers finishing second and Congress and its allies failing to put up a strong show.
In the 2017 elections, the undivided Shiv Sena had secured 84 seats out of the total 227. While being in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party at that point, the alliance had secured the halfway mark of 114 seats, with the BJP winning 82 seats.
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