Maharashtra sees 53.40 pc turnout in 3rd phase of LS polls for 11 seats

Voting was held between 7 am and 6 pm.Prominent contestants in this phase of polling in the state included royal scions Shahu Chhatrapati of the Congress in Kolhapur and Bharatiya Janata Party BJPs Udayanraje Bhosale in Satara as well Union minister Narayan Rane in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar and his mother Asha Pawar were among the early voters.

A voter turnout of 54.09 per cent was recorded in 11 out of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, where polling was held on Tuesday in the third phase of the general elections, officials said. The first two phases of polling in the state saw more than 62 per cent voter turnout. As per the data shared by the election authorities, the Kolhapur seat saw the highest turnout of 63.71 per cent, while the Baramati seat, where two members of the politically influential Pawar family were locked in a bitter tussle, recorded the lowest turnout of 47.84 per cent.

In Baramati, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule was pitted against Sunetra Pawar, wife of the veteran leader's estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Hatkanangale recorded a voter turnout of 62.18 per cent, Osmanabad 56.84 per cent, Latur 55.38 per cent, Satara 54.74 per cent, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg 53.75 per cent, Sangli 52.56 per cent, Raigad 50.31 per cent, Madha 50.00 per cent and Solapur 49.17 per cent. Voting was held between 7 am and 6 pm.

Prominent contestants in this phase of polling in the state included royal scions Shahu Chhatrapati of the Congress in Kolhapur and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Udayanraje Bhosale in Satara as well Union minister Narayan Rane in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar and his mother Asha Pawar were among the early voters. They cast their votes at a polling booth in Baramati, where Sunetra is pitted against her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, the sitting MP from there.

NCP (SP) head Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha Pawar, daughter Supriya Sule and her family, MLA Rohit Pawar and his family also voted in Baramati.

Actor couple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'souza cast their votes in Latur, while Union minister Rane voted in Sindhudurg. Riteish Deshmukh is the son of Congress leader and former state chief minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh, whose home turf was Latur.

A total of 2.09 crore persons were eligible to vote for 258 candidates in the third phase, for which 23,036 polling centres were set up, an election official said.

There were 1,07,64,741 male voters, 1,02,26,946 female voters and 929 from the third gender. Polling was held on April 19 in the first phase of the general elections in Ramtek (SC), Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST) and Chandrapur seats in Maharashtra. The first phase saw a voter turnout of 63.71 per cent.

On April 26, polling was held in the second phase of elections in Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani Lok Sabha constituencies. The second phase witnessed a voter turnout of 62.71 per cent.

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