58.22% turnout till 5 pm in Maharashtra assembly polls; 41.6% in Colaba

Mumbai: Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 58.22 per cent till 5 pm on Wednesday in the elections to the 288-member state legislative assembly, with Gadchiroli district logging more than 69 per cent voting, poll officials said.

In the bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency held simultaneously, the voter turnout till 5 pm was 53.78 per cent, they said.

Polling began at 7 am in the state, where the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is vying to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine is hoping for a strong comeback, and continued till 6 pm.

A total of 1,00,186 polling booths were set up across the state this time, compared to 96,654 booths in the 2019 assembly elections, the officials said.

Gadchiroli topped the list of districts with 69.63 per cent turnout till 5 pm. Aheri assembly seat in the district saw 68.43 per cent voting, Gadchiroli constituency 69.22 per cent and Armori 71.26 per cent, they said.

Mumbai city district and Mumbai suburban district recorded 49.07 per cent and 51.76 per cent voting respectively.

The Colaba assembly segment in south Mumbai registered 41.64 per cent polling, Mahim 55.23 per cent, Worli 47.50 per cent, Shivadi 51.70 percent and Malabar Hill 50.08 per cent.

In Mumbai suburban, Bhandup recorded 60.18 per cent voting, Dahisar 50.98 percent and Bandra East 49.51 per cent.

In Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency in Thane, where he is pitted against Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Kedar Dighe, the voter turnout was 55.77 per cent. The overall percentage of Thane district was 49.76 per cent, the officials said.

The Nagpur South-West constituency, from where Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is in the fray, the voter turnout was 51.54 per cent till 5 pm. The polling figure in Nagpur district was 56.06 per cent.

The Baramati seat in Pune district, from where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar is fighting against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, recorded 62.31 per cent voter turnout, they added. This figure for Pune district was 54.09 per cent, they said.

Nashik district recorded 60.11 per cent turnout till 5 pm.

More than 9.7 crore voters were eligible to cast their votes and there were a total of 4,136 candidates in the fray, officials said.

In the Mahayuti alliance, the BJP contested 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81 and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP 59.

In the opposition's MVA combine, the Congress fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95 and NCP (SP) 86 candidates.

Smaller parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), were also in the fray, with BSP fielding 237 candidates and AIMIM 17 in the 288-member Lower House.

Bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat was necessitated following the death of Congress MP Vasant Chavan in August.