Polling officials go into last-minute overdrive to ensure every comfort is extended to one crore-plus voters who will exercise their franchise in city today
A polling station at Kora Kendra, Borivli West, on Wednesday. PIC/NIMESH DAVE
On the eve of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election, where citizens will exercise their franchise at 2600 spots containing a total of 10,224 polling stations in 227 electoral wards, election staff on Wednesday were busy with last-minute preparations across the city. These included setting up facilities on the premises of outdoor areas for queues of voters and creating dedicated areas for electors in enclosed spaces.
As 702 polling stations are in housing societies, steps have been taken in coordination with their respective secretaries. On Wednesday, BMC officials set up equipment at each polling station. These included an enquiry desk at the entrance to the station alongside security booths. Ballot machines were also brought to these spots, apart from voter lists, stamps, seals, ink, identity badges, and instruction manuals.
Polling stations also acted as inspection centres for the election material that was distributed to facilitate the voting process, which begins at 7.30 am on Thursday. Each polling station inspected the incoming material under supervision from senior elections officials.
Election officials carry electronic voting machines from a strong room to their respective locations in Sion on Wednesday. PIC/SHADAB KHAN
Additionally, preparations were also conducted for the vote-counting process, scheduled for January 16. According to an official from BMC, “This elections, there is very little time between voting and counting. We have had to prepare for both days on Wednesday itself.” For the vote counting process, strong rooms and counting centres have been designated. There are 23 such divisional centres across the city.
Mock exercises were also conducted to prepare the polling staff to carry out responsibilities, and respond to different kinds of emergencies. Guidance exercises were being held for voting procedure, election rules, and emergency response. An official said, “Emergency response includes situations such as crowd control, how to react in case there is an unprecedented power failure, excessive crowds gathering, political gatherings, and untoward incidents such as encounters with armed crowds, though this is an absolutely unlikely situation in our jurisdiction.” Approximately 62,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai for crowd management and voter flow, while 64,375 election officials are already on duty, according to the civic body.
A statement issued by the BMC on Wednesday declared, “With the successful completion of the ballot box and election material distribution process, the entire system is now ready for voting on Thursday, January 15, 2026. The administration is fully prepared for a peaceful and transparent election.”
A voting station is set up at St Xavier’s High School in Fort. PIC/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI
The police administration has also made security arrangements to maintain law and order on the polling day, and special attention is being given to locations with more than 10 polling stations.
A senior civic official said, “We do not have particularly sensitive or high alert polling locations in Mumbai. However, out of the 2600 polling locations, those that hold a large number of polling stations concentrated in a single area are considered sensitive, as these are likely to see large gatherings of crowds and may need additional crowd or congestion control measures.”
Backup units
For the first time, the civic body has received 140 Printing Auxiliary Display Unit (PADU) machines developed by Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru, which will act as backups in case of technical problems
during vote counting on Friday.
Polling Station Locations
Government buildings
Enclosed 2382
Semi-closed 879
Open spaces 1143
Cooperative housing societies
Confined spaces 181
Semi-enclosed spaces 312
Open spaces 209
No of voting locations
2600
Total no of polling stations
10,224
Private building
Closed spaces
2693
Semi-enclosed spaces
1385
Open spaces
1040
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