Mumbai, Nov 20 (UNI) Over 58 percent of the total 9.70 crore plus voters exercised their democratic rights in the single phase Maharashtra Assembly election, that remained peaceful, except for a few incidents of clashes between political rivals till 5 pm on Wednesday.
According to sources in the Election Commission, on an average 58.22 percent votes were polled in the state, with Gadchiroli district reporting the highest polling figure of 64 percent. Mumbai City saw the lowest polling at 49.07 percent.
The election authorities said, besides reports of glitches in EVM machines at different places, and a few clashes between the rival political parties in some area, polling went on peacefully and no major untoward incident has been reported so far across the state.
The polling, which began at 7 a.m., is scheduled to end at 6 p.m., but the election authorities said all those reaching the booths by the closing time would be allowed to vote.
The polling started at a slow pace in the opening hour, but turned brisk as the closing time approached.
In Nashik district, supporters of Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Suhas Kande and his independent rival Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of state minister and NCP (AP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal, clashed in Nandgaon constituency.
Bhujbal accused Kande of bringing hundreds of outsiders in a vehicle and distributing money, but the Shiv Sena contestant rubbished the allegations.
Governor C P Radhakrishnan cast his vote at the polling booth here at the Raj Bhavan, which falls under the Colaba assembly constituency.
The bigwigs who came out to vote included RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Union ministers Narayan Rane, Ramdas Athawale, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, former CM Prithviraj Chavan and MNS chief Raj Thackeray.
Celebrities like Bharat Ratna and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar with his family, Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, Anupam Kher, Rajkummar Rao, Kushal Badrike, Sonali Kulkarni and the brothers Reitesh Deshmukh, Amit Deshmukh and Dhiraj Deshmukh, along with their families, semed in good spirits as they stepped out to exercise their democratic rights.
Industrialist Mukesh Ambani also landed up in the polling booth with his family.
The fate of 4136 candidates across the 288 assembly seats are being decided during the day, as part of forming the government in one of the largest states in India.
The prominent candidates include Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (BJP), Ajit Pawar(NCP),, Aditya Thackeray(UBT), Amit Thackeray (MNS), Dhanananay Munde(NCP) Rohit Pawar (NCP-SP),Yugendra Pawar (NCP-SP), Vijay Wadettiwar(Cong), Prithviraj Chavan (Cong) and Dilip Valse Patil (NCP-AP).The ruling Mahayuti – Shiv Sena (Shinde), BJP and the NCP (AP) – is engaged in a fierce contest with the opposition combine Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state known for its thriving commerce and vibrant culture which also includes one of the world’s largest entertainment Industries.The Indian National Congress, Shi Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) constitute the MVAThe votes will be counted along with those from the Jharkhand Assembly polls on November 23.
