Mumbai civic body elections: Exit polls give BMCs rein to BJP, Shiv Sena as Thackeray brothers bite dust
According to exit polls, the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will be clear winners of the elections, while the Thackeray brothers and their parties will apparently secure the Maratha and the Muslim votes.
New Delhi: The Brihanmumbai Corporation elections to gain control of the Mumbai civic body saw some intense fights. Now, the exit polls have come up with their predictions of winners, with the BJP and Shiv Sena leading the way.
BJP predicted to clinch BMC polls
According to exit polls, the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will be clear winners of the elections, while the Thackeray brothers and their parties will apparently secure the Maratha and the Muslim votes.
However, the BJP has got most of the votes of the north and south Indians, as per the exit polls. Notably, the BMC elections were held last in 2017, and this time, they witnessed the united Thackeray brothers, Uddhav and Raj, fight to reclaim power and prestige. However, it seems like the BJP and its allies might have taken long strides to victory.
What are the exit polls suggesting?
According to exit polls of Axis My India and the JVC, the BJP and Shiv Sena will secure a landslide victory in the elections to the 227-ward civic body. The exit polls predict that they will overwhelmingly cross the majority mark of 114.
JVC has predicted that the BJP will win 138 seats and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will win 59 seats, with Congress getting 23 seats. The exit polls of Axis My India predict that the BJP and Sena will get 131-151 seats, and the Sena UBT and MNS will win 58-68 seats. The Sakal Poll has predicted that the BJP and Sena will win 119 seats while UBT will win 75, with Congress not gaining more than 20 seats.
BJP gets North Indian votes, Opposition gets Maratha votes
Axis My India exit poll predicts that the BJP will get 68 per cent of North Indian votes, and the Shiv Sena will get 19 per cent, with Congress getting only 2 per cent. The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS can get 49 per cent of the Maratha vote, the BJP can get 30 per cent, the Congress just 8 per cent, but the latter will maintain its strong hold on minority votes.
Congress will receive around 41 per cent Muslim votes, and Uddhav's Shiv Sena will get 28 per cent. Both Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) can get 29 per cent of the Christian voters.