MUMBAI, Jan. 16 -- After a four-year hiatus, marked by prolonged civic disengagement and an administrator rule, Mumbai returned to the ballot on Thursday in the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, held against the backdrop of a fragmented Shiv Sena, which ruled the roost for decades, confusing alliances and multi-cornered contests across wards. Contrary to expectations of fatigue, Mumbai voters turned out in significant numbers, reaffirming the city's long-standing tendency to defy predictions of voter apathy. The final voter turnout was 52.9%, driven largely by a surge in participation from Maharashtrian and Gujarati-dominated localities in central Mumbai and the suburbs. The day began with a symbolic gesture by political leaders across parties who sought blessings at the Siddhivinayak temple. The highest turnout recorded so far has been 55.59% in the 2017 civic polls, while the city had averaged around 44% in past elections. Thursday's participation was close to the trend of 2017, particularly in dense Marathi and Gujarati speaking pockets. Central Mumbai neighbourhoods such as Dadar, Prabhadevi, Worli, Parel and Dadar West, where the Marathi electorate plays a decisive role, are also key battlegrounds between the two rival Sena factions. In south Mumbai's Malabar hill ward and the far western suburbs, including Magathane and Dahisar, Borivali- Gorai, Vikhroli- Mulund and Ghatkopar Gujarati dominated voters turned out in larger numbers. Ward-level contrasts were however stark. South Mumbai's ward 227 in Colaba continued to disappoint with a low voter turnout of 15.73% recorded at 3:30 pm on Thursday, while ward 114 in Bhandup, which saw a keen contest between the two Senas, recorded the highest turnout of 53.34% at 3:30pm. Significantly, this divergence mirrored the pattern seen in the 2017 BMC elections, where Colaba's ward 227 voter turnout stood at 28.25% and Bhandup at 57% suggesting continuity in voter behaviour despite the altered political landscape. Over 1.03 crore voters were eligible to participate in the BMC elections, which included 55.16 lakh men, 48.26 lakh women and 1,099 others. They were made their picks from among nearly 1,700 candidates across 227 wards for the position of corporators in the country's richest municipal corporation, whose budget was Rs.74,427 crore declared last year. In a politically pivotal time, the Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, are seeking to reassert their relevance after the Shiv Sena split in 2022, following which the Eknath Shinde faction of the party aligned with the BJP, while the present BJP-led Mahayuti alliance aims to consolidate its gains following its strong performance in the 2024 Assembly elections. The day, however, did not go by without disruption. Even as voter participation emerged as a strong counter-narrative, polling was overshadowed by a series of complaints of names missing from the voter's list and polling booths that raised questions about management of the overall exercise. Polling began on a shaky note at 7.30 am at several centres, including in Lalbaug's chivda galli, where a malfunctioning EVM delayed voting by nearly half an hour and therefore extended voting time till 6pm. An increase in the number of polling booths, intended to reduce overcrowding, ended up confusing many voters who went to locations attributed to them during the last Assembly elections, and had to be redirected elsewhere. Such instances were reported from areas including Worli, Dahisar and Borivali, which had complaints of missing names, changed polling centres and discrepancies between voter slips and booth lists. More widespread were complaints related to electoral rolls and polling logistics. The BMC had announced that it had handed out voter slips to 85 lakh voters, while 15 lakh slips were still remaining to be delivered. Swapnil Narayan Worlikar, 40, a Worli Koliwada resident, whose name was missing from the voter list, said, "Everyone has jobs and families; two hours were wasted in this confusion. This has never happened to Koliwada residents." Payal Shah, a Sion resident, said, "Names of people who died years ago still appeared on voter lists, while those who updated their details were shown as being absent. This isn't voter apathy; it's the State Election Commission's (SEC) mess." Several blips in logistics were reported across the suburbs. Chaos was also reported from ward 8 in Dahisar, where MLA Manisha Choudhary complained that voter lists at the booth did not match the slips issued to residents. Adding to the unease were allegations that the indelible ink applied on voters' fingers could be wiped off easily. The SEC issued a clarification stating that attempting to remove the ink to create confusion or to make an attempt to vote again is an offence, and also that wiping off the ink does not enable repeat voting, as records are maintained once a vote is cast. The SEC reiterated that marker pens have been used for local body elections since 2011 and detailed the prescribed method of application to ensure visibility. The EVMs and control units will be moved to strong rooms on Thursday night and taken to counting centres on Friday, where counting will begin at 10 am amid tight security....