Actor Shah Rukh Khan after casting his vote in Mumbai on Thursday
It is nowhere near the best figures of the day. But Mumbai seems to have run a good last lap today to register a voter turnout of 52 per cent in its six seats, as polling ended in the sixth phase of the general elections today.
#GetInked trended high in Mumbai on Twitter. #mumbaivotes topped the India Trends list. But for a large portion of the day it seemed that Maximum City would be unable to improve on the 41.5 per cent voter turnout per cent in 2009.
In the end, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai South Central saw 55 per cent voting, and in a late surge, union minister Milind Deora's Mumbai South registered a 54 per cent turnout after lagging through the day. Mumbai North-West was the lowest at 50 per cent.
In comparison, the day's best voting figures came from West Bengal that saw 82 per cent turnout. The 19 Maharashtra seats averaged 56.26 per cent voter turnout.
Famous Mumbaikars like Sachin Tendulkar, celebrating his 41st birthday, Aamir Khan and Anil Ambani voted early. The Bachchans voted later in the day. Actor Vidya Balan said, "Tomorrow if I point a finger at some, there should be this voting mark on my finger."
But many more from Bollywood were missing as they were away in the US for an award ceremony. That included actors like Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Also former MPs Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, though son Farhan Akhtar stayed back to vote.
Lyricist Prasoon Joshi hit out sharply at colleagues who did not vote. "The nation takes precedence over everything else. I'm going for IIFA too but only after voting... can't just do armchair criticism, many in Bollywood aren't responsible," he said.
In 2009, the Congress and NCP swept the city winning all six Mumbai seats. This time, opinion polls give the BJP and its partner Shiv Sena the advantage.
The Aam Aadmi Party has added the twist to the tale, fielding candidates like former banker Meera Sanyal and social activist Medha Patkar.