Polling for civic elections began on a tense note on Thursday amid reports of technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), leading to delays and temporary suspension of voting at several polling booths. In the Vasai–Virar City Municipal Corporation elections, a major disruption was reported from one polling station where an EVM remained non-functional for nearly three hours. Since morning, EVMs at multiple locations were found to be shut for periods ranging from 30 minutes to an hour, affecting the voting process.
The most severe incident occurred in Ward No. 26 at Umelman, at the Zilla Parishad School, Room No. 3, Polling Booth No. 28, where voting came to a complete halt as the EVM remained out of order for a full three hours. The prolonged interruption triggered confusion and tension among voters and candidates present at the polling station. The incident has raised serious concerns over polling preparedness and election management, as voters were left waiting and the electoral process came to a standstill for an extended period.
In the last elections in 2015, the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation had a total of 115 seats. In the civic elections held on June 14, 2015, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi dominated the results with an overwhelming victory, winning 106 seats and securing full control of the municipal body. The Shiv Sena emerged a distant second with 5 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to win only 1 seat. Independents and other smaller parties together accounted for the remaining 3 seats. The 2015 results underlined the strong regional influence of the BVA in the Vasai Virar region. The previous civic polls in 2015 recorded a voter turnout of approximately 50 per cent despite heavy rains. As per the voter data for Vasai Virar, the total electorate stands at 6,46,789 voters. This includes 3,50,554 male voters and 2,96,235 female voters. There are no registered voters under the third gender category.