Voters at a polling booth in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra
Maharashtra's urban pockets including assembly constituencies in Mumbai reported low voter turnout, despite Mumbai being the biggest city in the state and the country's financial and entertainment hub. The turnout this time is only 1 per cent higher than in 2019, which was 48.4 per cent.
Few people were seen at many booths in several constituencies of Mumbai. Urban voter apathy has been a challenge for the Election Commission, which frequently ran campaigns to encourage people to come out in large numbers and vote.
Mumbai city district and Mumbai suburban district recorded 40.89 per cent and 39.34 per cent turnout, respectively. These are lower than the turnout above 60 per cent in the last assembly election.
Maharashtra reported 45.5 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm. The state saw a much higher 61.4 per cent turnout in the last assembly election in 2019.
Nanded, where voting in the Lok Sabha bypoll is going on, reported 41.6 per cent turnout till 3 pm, much lower than the 60.9 per cent historical turnout in by-elections on this seat.
The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is looking to retain power, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine wants to dethrone the ruling alliance at any cost.
Voting will end at 6 pm. Counting is on Saturday.
Gadchiroli tops the list of districts with 62.99 per cent turnout. Aheri assembly seat in the district saw 66.27per cent voting, while Gadchiroli constituency recorded 62.43 per cent voting. Armori saw 60.50 per cent polling.
Colaba assembly segment in Mumbai saw 33.44 per cent polling, Mahim 45.56 per cent, and Worli 39.11 per cent. Shivadi recorded 41.76 per cent and Malabar Hill 42.55 per cent.
In Mumbai suburban, Bhandup polled 48.82 per cent votes, Dahisar 41.91 per cent and Bandra East 39.49 per cent.
In Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency in Thane, the voter turnout was 44.60 per cent, while the overall percentage of Thane district was 38.94 per cent.
Over 9.7 crore people were eligible to vote in Maharashtra today.
In the Mahayuti alliance, the BJP is contesting 148 seats, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena 80 seats, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 53 seats. Five seats have gone to other Mahayuti allies, while no decision was taken on two seats.
In the MVA, the Congress is fighting on 103 seats, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena on 89 seats, and Sharad Pawar's NCP on 87 seats. Six seats were given to other MVA allies, while there was no clarity on three assembly segments.
The Maharashtra assembly has 288 seats.