assembly-elections

Updated: Oct 21, 2019 10:34 IST

Maharashtra witnessed a low turnout of voters on Monday as 5.69% people came in to vote in the first three hours of polling in the 288 assembly constituencies across the state, official data showed.

In Mumbai Island city it was 5.14% and the suburbs recorded a turnout of 5.77%, officials said.

Maharashtra recorded a 55.23% voter turnout with Mumbai clocking 57.32% for the Lok Sabha elections, less than five months ago.

However, the state’s performance in the previous assembly elections of 2014 was much better with a voter turn out of 63.38% and 51.21% in Mumbai.

The voting activity picks up in the second half of the day, according to past records.

Rain was reported in several places and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more showers in the second half of the day in some districts of the western state.

According to IMD, there is likely to be a thunderstorm, lightning along with gusty wind rainfall activity for Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Solapur districts on Monday.

On Sunday, Pune along with Satara and Kolhapur received heavy rainfall, creating difficulties for many who were part of a massive exercise to shift electronic voting machines (EVMs) to polling booths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis urged voters to exercise their right to franchise.

“Elections are taking place for Haryana and Maharashtra assemblies. There are also by-polls taking place in various parts of India. I urge voters in these states and seats to turnout in record numbers and enrich the festival of democracy. I hope youngsters vote in large numbers,” the Prime Minister tweeted in the morning.

Elections are taking place for Haryana and Maharashtra assemblies. There are also by-polls taking place in various parts of India. I urge voters in these states and seats to turnout in record numbers and enrich the festival of democracy. I hope youngsters vote in large numbers. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 21 October 2019

Click here for live updates on Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections

“Voting is our Right, Voting is our Duty, And voting is an integral part of democracy. DO VOTE!” Fadnavis also posted on Twitter.

Voting is our Right,

Voting is our Duty,

And voting is an integral part of democracy.

DO VOTE!



मतदान हा आपला अधिकार आहे,

मतदान हा आपला हक्क आहे,

लोकशाहीच्या पवित्र पर्वातील ते अभीन्न अंग आहे.

मतदान अवश्य करा...! #MaharashtraAssemblyPolls #VoteKarMaharashtra #Vote4Development pic.twitter.com/L5iyQ8etXv — Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) 21 October 2019

Two prominent alliances are pitted against each other: the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena, which formed the government in the state between 2014 and 2019, and the Congress- Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) combine.

The BJP is contesting 164 seats and its partner Shiv Sena on 124 seats. There are two seats, Kankavali and Man, where both the BJP and Sena are contesting on their respective symbols.

Meanwhile, the NCP-Congress alliance is together fighting on 263 seats, with the Congress contesting on 146 seats and the NCP on 117 seats.

The other prominent parties such as the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is contesting 242 seats and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on 103 seats.

The BJP is set to go up against the opposition party Congress in 94 seats in the state, while the Sena will take on the opposition in 52 seats.

There are 96,661 polling stations, 89,839,600 voters and 3,237 candidates in the fray from the state. Of these, 36 constituencies are in Mumbai and its suburbs, with 9,989 polling stations, 9,817,344 voters and 333 candidates.

The votes will be counted on October 24 along with Haryana.