The civic body said the overall turnout stood at 19 per cent till 11.30 am, with data indicating significant variations in voter participation across different ward committees
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An average voter turnout of 19 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of polling for the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) elections 2026 on Thursday, according to officials.
Polling commenced at 7.30 am amid tight security arrangements across Thane and will continue until 5.30 pm.
The civic body said the overall turnout stood at 19 per cent till 11.30 am, with data indicating significant variations in voter participation across different ward committees.
Among the wards, Uthalsar recorded a turnout of 21.41 per cent, while Diva registered some of the highest participation, with 22.29 per cent in Ward Nos. 27 and 28, and 20.25 per cent in Ward Nos. 29 and 33. Lokmanya Savarkar Nagar reported a turnout of 19.8 per cent, and Naupada–Kopri stood at 19.27 per cent.
Majiwada and Vartak Nagar ward committees recorded similar turnout levels of 18.26 per cent and 18.30 per cent, respectively. Kalwa saw 17.92 per cent polling, while Wagle Ward Committee reported 17.02 per cent.
In the Mumbra area, voter turnout remained comparatively lower, with 16.24 per cent recorded in Ward Nos. 26 and 31, and 18.25 per cent in Ward Nos. 30 and 32, officials said.
Voting underway
Voting in 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra began on Thursday morning with spotlight on Mumbai, where the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is locked in an intense battle with the reunited Thackeray cousins for control of India's largest and richest civic body.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), whose annual budget is over Rs 74, 400 crore, 1,700 candidates are vying for 227 seats in elections being held after nine years, after a four-year delay. More than 25,000 police personnel have been deployed across Mumbai to oversee elections.
Except for Mumbai, the other urban bodies have multi-member wards. Vote count will take place on January 16.
These are the first BMC polls since the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde, now Deputy Chief Minister, broke away with a majority of the party's MLAs and allied with the BJP to become the chief minister.
The undivided Shiv Sena held sway over India's richest civic body for 25 years (1997-2022).
In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, who head Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, respectively, reunited last month after two decades in their bid to consolidate Marathi votes even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Congress, once a formidable political force in Maharashtra, has asserted its presence in Mumbai by stepping out of the shadow of its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies - Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).
The grand old party has joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state capital.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations are being held after a gap of several years, with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.
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