Mumbai. Jan 15: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was among the first celebrities to arrive at a polling booth on Thursday morning to cast his vote in the ongoing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

The actor reached the Gandhi Shikshan Bhavan polling station in Mumbai early in the day and completed the voting process without delay. After casting his vote, Akshay interacted briefly with mediapersons outside the booth, stressing the importance of public participation in the democratic process.

Highlighting the significance of civic elections, the actor urged citizens to exercise their franchise. “Today is the BMC election. I would urge everyone to definitely vote so that we can choose the right person through voting,” he said.

Polling is being held on Thursday across 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra amid tight security arrangements. The elections, held after an intense campaign, are considered crucial for key urban centres including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nashik and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena are contesting the civic body polls together under the Mahayuti alliance in most corporations, except Pune. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has opted to contest independently in the majority of municipal corporations.

According to the State Election Commission, as many as 3.48 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 15,908 candidates contesting for 2,869 seats across 893 wards in 29 municipal corporations. A total of 39,092 polling centres have been established across the state.

Polling commenced at 7.30 am on Thursday, January 15, and will continue until 5.30 pm. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 16.