Polling began for elections to 147 municipal councils and 17 Nagar Panchayats in Maharashtra on Sunday morning.

The polling began at 7.30 AM and will end at 5.30 PM, an official said.

As many as 15,827 candidates are in the fray for the 3,706 seats spread over the municipal councils and nagar panchayats, where the first phase of polling is in progress.

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For the post of municipal council president in 147 places, there are 1,013 candidates, State Election Commissioner J S Saharia said.

He said 147 municipal councils and 18 nagar panchayats were to vote in the first phase. However, 27 candidates have been declared elected unopposed.

For Shirala Nagar Panchayat in Sangli district, not a single nomination was received. Hence, voting is being held in 3,706 seats for the 164 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, the official said.

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A total of 24,191 nominations were received. Out of this, 20,716 papers were found valid. As many as 4,889 candidates withdrew from the elections.

For the municipal council presidents’ posts, 2,374 nominations were received. As many as 1,533 papers were found valid, while 520 withdrew.

Counting of votes will be taken up tomorrow.