63% voting in M’rashtra, same as in 2014

Mumbai, October 21 

The Maharashtra Assembly elections held on Monday saw a turnout of around 63 per cent, almost matching the 63.38 per cent polling recorded in the the last state elections in 2014.

Rural areas of the state fared better, with voters there showing more enthusiasm than their urban counterparts. Polling began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. Altogether 54.53 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm, a poll official said.

A galaxy of bigwigs from politics, Bollywood and India Inc joined the young and the old in exercising their franchise in this festival of democracy. Prominent voters included RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, CM Devendra Fadnavis, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, former President Pratibha Patil and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Actor Riteish Deshmukh and wife Genelia cast their vote in Latur district, where Amit and Dheeraj, brothers of Ritesh and sons of former CM late Vilasrao Deshmukh, are contesting as Congress candidates.

A nonagenarian was the cynosure of all eyes as he accompanied Union minister Smriti Irani outside a polling booth in Mumbai. “Today’s hero is Khanna saheb, who served in the Army. At 93, he came out to vote. It is an inspiration,” Irani said.

In Pune, A 102-year-old man, suffering from a heart ailment, went straight to a polling booth to cast his vote after being discharged from a hospital. Ibrahim Alim Joad, who, according to his family, has never missed voting since Independence, consulted his doctors before going to vote. 

The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Nearly 6.5 lakh polling personnel were deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.

The Congress said it filed over 250 complaints of poll procedure violations with the EC, including one for Ramtek segment where it said if the EVM button was pressed in favour of Congress candidate, the vote was shown to be going to the BJP nominee. — PTI

EVM glitches   

The polling was disrupted in various parts of Maharashtra after EVMs developed glitches. “We have received reports of the EVMs and VVPAT machines malfunctioning in Mumbai, Satara, Wardha, Aurangabad, Ratnagiri, Bhandara and Sangli,” said an EC official. The EVMs being used in the polls are upgraded and linked to the VVPAT machines.  The Congress  has complained of 187 instances of the EVMs malfunctioning in various parts of the state.TNS

MAHARASHTRA

Total seats: 288

Magic mark: 145