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Civic polls in Mumbai, other cities

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Ten major cities of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur, are going to the polls on February 1 to elect their municipal corporations and the outcome is expected to be as vital as the general elections for all parties.

The other cities are: Ulhasnagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Solapur, Akola and Amravati. The State has 14 municipal corporations.

Elections for the remaining four would be held later. Counting will be on February 2.

For the first time, electronic voting machines would be used and the exercise would need 18,000 gadgets.

The elections are all the more crucial for the urban-based Shiv Sena that has faced a split and desertion by some of its leaders and functionaries. The party is ruling in Mumbai and adjacent Thane and Nashik in alliance with the BJP and is a force in Pune and Nashik.

The elections would show how much of its urban base the Shiv Sena has retained following the exit of Mr. Narayan Rane, a leader from the Konkan region, who has considerable influence among the Marathi-speaking people of Mumbai and Thane.

The Congress is expected to use the services of Mr. Rane, now Revenue Minister, to take on the Shiv Sena.

Another challenge the Sena is facing is from Raj Thackeray, a nephew of the Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray. Mr. Raj Thackeray has formed his own party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

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Civic polls in Mumbai, other cities

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