Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 15 : Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was among the first celebrities to reach a polling booth on Thursday morning to cast his vote in the ongoing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
The actor arrived early at the Gandhi Shikshan Bhavan polling station in Mumbai to complete the voting process.
After casting his vote, Akshay spoke to reporters outside the polling station. While speaking to reporters, the actor emphasised the importance of voting and encouraged people to take part in the election process. Urging citizens to come out and vote, the actor said, "Today is the BMC election... I would urge everyone to definitely vote so that we can choose the right person through voting."
Polling is being held on Thursday across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra. The elections are taking place after an intense campaign and are seen as crucial for major cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena are contesting the civic elections as allies under the Mahayuti banner, except in Pune, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to fight independently in most corporations.
According to the State Election Commission, a total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39,092 polling centres have been set up across the state.
Polling began at 7:30 am on Thursday, January 15, and will continue until 5:30 pm. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 16.
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