Mumbai: After the voting for 227 electoral wards of BMC (Mumbai Municipal Corporation) was completed peacefully on Thursday, now all eyes are on the counting of votes. Counting of votes will begin at 10 am on Friday at 23 counting centers in the city. This time an important change has been made in the process of counting of votes, due to which there may be some delay in the announcement of the final results than usual.
This time the BMC administration has adopted a new strategy of counting votes. Whereas earlier the counting of all wards started simultaneously, this time only votes of two wards will be counted at a time. Under this system, counting of only 46 wards will start at 10 am.
There may be an additional delay of one hour
Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani told the media that due to this new process, there may be an additional delay of about an hour in the declaration of the final result. However, the administration believes that with this method the counting of votes can be completed in a more organized and controlled manner.
What is the reason for the change?
According to BMC officials, in the 2017 elections, counting of all 227 wards was started simultaneously, but this time the method has been changed based on experience. Officials say that when focus is given to only two wards at a time, human resources and technical arrangements are better utilized. However, one effect of this change will be that it will be difficult to reveal the election trends of the entire city in the initial hours, because the counting of all the wards will not start simultaneously.
Special emphasis on security and technology
BMC has made extensive arrangements to make the vote counting process safe and transparent. A total of 2,299 officers and employees have been deployed in the counting of votes, who will count the votes through a fully computerized system. Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani himself has reviewed the security, traffic management and law and order of the counting centres. CCTV surveillance has been arranged in all 23 counting centers and strong rooms. These places have also received necessary approvals from the Police and Public Works Department.
1,700 candidates, budget of Rs 74,400 crore
This time around 1,700 candidates are in the fray in the elections of BMC, which is considered to be the richest metropolitan municipality of the country. BMC’s budget for 2025-26 is Rs 74,400 crore, which is considered equal to the budget of many states. It is noteworthy that the last BMC elections were held in 2017, while the tenure of the elected house ended in March 2022. Since then the corporation was running under administrative system. Now the newly elected council will take over the responsibility of this huge budget and the civic administration of Mumbai.
Strict entry rules at counting centers
According to the BMC administration, only authorized candidates, their representatives and media persons with valid identity cards will be allowed to enter the counting centres. Apart from this, strong arrangements have also been made for fire protection, medical facilities and traffic control at the centres. Overall, the administration is fully alert regarding BMC vote counting and preparations have been completed to declare the results in a transparent, secure and orderly manner.
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