58.43 per cent voters exercise franchise for Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024

PIC/SAYYED SAMEER ABEDI

Altogether, 58.43 per cent of voters exercised their franchise on Wednesday in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024, where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance is striving to retain power, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine hopes for a comeback.

According to news agency PTI, these figures released by the election officials are provisional. The polling body stated that 61.74 per cent voting was recorded in the 2019 state elections.

Voting began at 7 am in all 288 assembly constituencies and concluded at 6 pm. The votes will be counted on November 23.

The polling process was marred by incidents of vandalism in Parli and some areas of Beed district, as well as clashes between rival party supporters. In one such incident, a clash broke out between Shiv Sena candidate Suhas Kande and independent candidate Sameer Bhujbal in the Nandgaon Assembly Constituency of Nashik district.

In Parli, where Dhananjay Munde of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was contesting, a polling booth was vandalised and a worker of NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) was assaulted. Madhav Jadhav, a local leader of NCP (SP), was assaulted in Bank Colony area of Parli town, and a video of the assault went viral on social media. Following this, a polling booth at Ghatnandur in the constituency was vandalised. A few individuals entered the booth, threw the electronic voting machine (EVM) on the ground, and damaged the furniture, PTI reported.

Beed District Collector Avinash Pathak said that the administration replaced the damaged EVMs, following which the voting resumed. He assured that the data from the earlier EVMs would be included during the counting process.

EVM malfunctions in Nashik

Meanwhile, the NCP (SP) candidate from Parli, Rajesaheb Deshmukh, alleged that a CCTV camera was disabled at a polling booth in Dharmapuri in the constituency.

In Nashik, a technical glitch occurred when an EVM malfunctioned at a polling station, causing a brief delay for voters who had already received indelible ink marks, reported PTI. The incident took place at a polling station in the Nandgaon constituency.

In one of the most keenly-watched contests in the state, NCP chief Ajit Pawar faced his nephew Yugendra in Baramati Constituency.

Voting also took place in Nanded for the Lok Sabha by-election, where Congress's Ravindra Chavan and BJP's Santukrao Hambarde were in a direct contest. This bypoll was triggered by the death of sitting Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Vasant Chavan on August 26. Following his death, Congress gave the ticket to Vasant Chavan's son Ravindra Chavan.

In Mumbai, several Bollywood celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Ranbir Kapoor, cast their votes in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024, adding glamour to the festival of democracy. Shah Rukh Khan arrived with his wife Gauri Khan and daughter Suhana Khan, while Salman Khan, who had faced death threats recently, also exercised his voting right. Other celebrities such as Saif Ali Khan and his wife Kareena Kapoor, and Hema Malini with her daughter Esha Deol, were seen voting as well.

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, his wife Neeta, sons Anant and Akash, and daughter-in-law Shloka Mehta also cast their votes.

Independent candidate in Beed dies at polling booth

Congress leader Sachin Pilot expressed confidence that the Maha Vikas Aghadi would form the next government in the state. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde remarked, "The atmosphere is good for the Mahayuti. People are happy with our development work. Ladki Bahin is an effective scheme, and women voted in large numbers."

Independent candidate Balasaheb Shinde, who was contesting from Beed, tragically passed away due to a heart attack at a polling booth.

Among the 9.7 crore eligible voters in the state, a number of centenarians also participated. At 100 years old, Kantaben Dani made her way to the polling booth in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area on Wednesday morning to cast her vote, accompanied by her family, including her great-grandson.

Voters chose from 4,136 candidates running for the 288 assembly seats in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024.

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

In the opposition MVA combine, the Congress fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and NCP (SP) put up 86 candidates. Other parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), also contested, with BSP fielding 237 candidates and AIMIM running 17 candidates.

The Mahayuti, comprising BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is banking on its popular schemes like Majhi Ladki Bahin for women to help retain power.

The MVA, made up of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (Sharad Pawar), is focusing on issues such as caste-based census, social justice, and protecting the Constitution.

This year, the number of candidates increased by 28 per cent compared to the 2019 state assembly elections. A total of 4,136 candidates contested, up from 3,239 in 2019. Among these, 2,086 were independents. Rebels contested in over 150 constituencies, challenging their party's official nominees.

There were 1,00,186 polling booths in Maharashtra this time, compared to 96,654 booths in the 2019 assembly elections.

(With PTI inputs)