38.77 pc voting till 3 pm in Maharashtra’s 13 LS seats; politicians, prominent personalities vote

Mumbai: An average voter turnout of 38.77 per cent was recorded till 3 pm on Monday in 13 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra as voting was underway for the fifth and final phase of general elections in the state, as per poll officials.

Among the 13 constituencies, Bhiwandi recorded 37.06 per cent polling, Dhule 39.97 per cent, Dindori 45.95 per cent, Kalyan 32.43 per cent, Mumbai North 39.33 per cent, Mumbai North Central 37.66 per cent, Mumbai North East 39.15 per cent, Mumbai North West 39.91 per cent, Mumbai South 36.64 per cent, Mumbai South Central 38.77 per cent, Nashik 39.41 per cent, Palghar 42.48 per cent and Thane 36.07 per cent.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde voted along with his family members at a booth in Thane, which is his political turf.

Shinde told reporters that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is the stronghold of the Shiv Sena-BJP where the ruling alliance will win all the 10 seats – six in Mumbai, three in Thane district and the Palghar seat.

Polling was underway from 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he has requested the Election Commission of India to look into complaints of slow pace of voting in Mumbai.

“There have been several complaints of the overall polling pace being very slow,” he said in a statement.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former CM Uddhav Thackeray and his wife Rashmi Thackeray exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Bandra area of Mumbai.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila Thackeray voted at a booth in Mumbai’s Dadar area.

Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora exercised his franchise at a polling booth in south Mumbai.

Several prominent persons, including Union minister Piyush Goyal, industrialists Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, actor Akshay Kumar, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and cricketers Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav, exercised their franchise in the metropolis.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, former Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik, actor Janhvi Kapoor, actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar and Marathi theatre actor Prashant Damle also cast their votes here.

Film personalities Anupam Kher, Anil Kapoor, Ashok Saraf, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar also exercised their right to vote in Mumbai.

Voters queued up at some polling booths before 7 am with some saying they wanted to avoid the heat later in the day while some wanted to exercise their franchise before going for their work.

In Thane city, there was malfunctioning of EVMs at a couple of booths in the morning, but the problem was rectified promptly, district poll officials said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray claimed there were lot of complaints from electors about facilities outside the polling booths.

“A lot of complaints from voters about the facilities outside the booths @ECISVEEP Atleast having the voter lines in shade/ fans could help. They don’t want much, just basics to stay cool. Please look into it,” the former state minister said in a post on X.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya alleged that Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Sunil Raut were found involved in “corrupt practices” outside their polling booth at Bhandup in Mumbai.

The former MP also claimed that two activists of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) were arrested for “illegal and corrupt practices of using a fake EVM”.

However, MLA Sunil Raut, who is the brother of Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, dismissed the allegations saying a dummy electronic voting machine (EVM) was kept outside the 100-metre radius of the polling booth for educational purpose.

Still, the police removed it under “political pressure”, he claimed.