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Singer Kailash Kher stepped out on Thursday to cast his vote in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, joining millions of citizens across Maharashtra.
The Padma Shri awardee was seen visiting a polling booth in Mumbai to fulfil his civic duty. After voting, Kher spoke about the sense of responsibility shown by people in the city and urged everyone to take part in the democratic process. Talking about Mumbai voters being "responsible" and the importance of voting, Kher told ANI, "The people of Mumbai are very responsible, they fulfil their duty, we just have to carry forward this tradition. Every person should step out of their home and vote." Actor Akshay Kumar was among the first celebrities to vote on Thursday. Several other film personalities were also seen at polling centres. These included Twinkle Khanna, Nana Patekar, Vishal Dadlani and Suniel Shetty. Polling across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra began early this morning. 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. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has chosen to fight independently in most corporations. In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have come together under a joint manifesto. 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 today and will continue until 5:30 pm. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 16. (ANI)
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