BMC Elections: BJP leader Shahina NC not allowed to vote

Mumbai, Maharashtra: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shaina NC on Tuesday was not allowed to cast vote in the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls as her name was missing from the voter list. Shaina, who came to cast her vote on a bicycle, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture surmounted at the front, at Napansea Road polling booth here, however, urged the people to exercise their right for the betterment of city. "We have been cycling all over Mumbai and the idea is to get maximum people to come out and vote, to realise that today is not a holiday, but, a day when one has to vote for a better India and a better Mumbai particularly," Shaina told ANI. She further said that it was important to be a legitimate part of democracy, which can only happen when everyone votes and exercises their franchise. The local body polls are set to witness a high pitch battle between the BJP, the Shiv Sena, the Congress, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Notably, the Shiv Sena and the BJP, its ally at the Centre as well as at the Maharashtra Government, will be facing off after the former decided to part ways for the civic polls.