India's largest and richest civic body goes to polls

India's largest and richest civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai, went to polls Tuesday.

There are 9.2 million voters in Mumbai, but the city is not known for a big voter turnout. In the 2014 general election, only 55 percent of the city cast their ballots.

This time the civic body contest is between two incumbent parties, the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its long-time ally-turned-critic Shiv Sena, regional Hindu nationalist party.

Just days ahead of the polls, Shiv Sena had snapped ties with its 20-year-old ally Bharatiya Janata Party and both the parties have gone on their own in this year's civic elections.

The BMC polls are a prestige battle, with the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, leading the Bharatiya Janata Party and Uddhav Thackeray his Shiv Sena from front.

"If the Bharatiya Janata Party loses, I'll take the responsibility and if we win credit goes to the party," Fadnavis told the media Monday.

In the last civic polls, the Shiv Sena had bagged 75 seats out of 227, the Bharatiya Janata Party 31, the country's main opposition Congress 52 and the regional Nationalist Congress Party 13.

The results will be declared Thursday.

Source: Xinhua