Voter Turnout Reaches 43% by 3 PM in Maharashtra's 2nd Phase of LS Elections

43.01% voter turnout recorded in 8 Maharashtra constituencies for Phase 2 Lok Sabha elections. Wardha at 45.95% turnout, Nanded at 42.42%, and Parbhani at 44.49%. Ex-CM Ashok Chavan cast his vote in Nanded. 1.49 crore voters eligible to vote across 16,589 polling centers. 204 candidates in the fray, including direct contest in Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim, and Hingoli between Shiv Sena and Sena (UBT). Prakash Ambedkar (VBA) contesting in Akola.

A voter turnout of 43.01 percent was recorded till 3 pm in eight constituencies in Maharashtra in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said. Voting started at 7 am in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in the central Marathwada region, and will end at 6 pm. Wardha recorded 45.95 percent turnout, Akola 42.69 percent, Amravati 43.76 percent, Buldhana 41.66 percent, Hingoli 40.5 percent, Nanded 42.42 percent, Parbhani 44.49 percent and Yavatmal-Washim 42.55 percent, election officials said. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the BJP, voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Nanded.

As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) are eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres.

There are a total of 204 candidates in the fray -- 21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani.

On April 19, five seats in eastern Vidarbha – Nagpur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli-Chimur – went to polls, registering a voter turnout of 63.70 per cent.

Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Hingoli are seeing a direct contest between the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT).

The undivided Shiv Sena contested the last general elections in the state in alliance with the BJP. It split in 2022 after Shinde led a rebellion, toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and joined hands with the BJP to become the CM.

In Buldhana, sitting Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Narendra Khedekar of Sena (UBT).

The Shiv Sena has nominated Rajashri Patil in Yavatmal-Washim, dropping sitting MP Bhavana Gawli. Patil is pitted against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Thackeray-led party.

In Hingoli, Rajashtri Patil's husband and sitting MP Hemant Patil was replaced by the Shiv Sena, which gave the ticket to Baburao Kohalikar. The Sena nominee is contesting against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of Sena (UBT).

In Parbhani, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha is contesting against MP Sanjay Jadhav, nominated by the Shiv Sena (UBT).

Jankar has been backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shiv Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has fielded candidates in seven seats, including himself from Akola. His brother Anandraj Ambedkar is in the fray in Amravati as a Republican Sena nominee.

In Akola, the contest is between Anup Dhotre of BJP and Abhay Patil of Congress, with Prakash Ambedkar as the third candidate.

Amravati is seeing a battle between MP Navneet Rana, now contesting as a BJP nominee, against Balwant Wankhede of Congress. Dinesh Bub is the Prahar Janshakti Party candidate. The Prahar party, which has two legislators in the assembly, is an ally of the ruling coalition.

In Wardha, there is a fight between former Congress MLA Amar Kale, contesting on the symbol of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) – "a man blowing turha" (a traditional trumpet) – against BJP MP Ramdas Tadas.

In Nanded, BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar is pitted against Congress nominee Vasant Chavan.

Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, will vote in three more phases between May 7 and May 20.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)