India, Jan. 16 -- The high-stakes battle for Mumbai and 28 other municipal corporations ended on Thursday with the voter turnout expected to cross 50%. The State Election Commission had yet to release the final figure till the time of going to press.

The fight for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, India's richest civic body with a budget of Rs.74,000 crore, is also a political make-or-break for Uddhav Thackeray whose party, the undivided Shiv Sena, had controlled the BMC for 26 years.

Thursday's polls were marred by multiple complaints of parties using cash to bribe voters and that the indelible ink was not indelible at all; it could be erased with nail polish remover and hand sanitiser. Sporadic clashes were also reported, involv...