Maharashtra starts voting to pick new govt, RSS chief casts vote
Mumbai, Nov 20 : In what is billed as the most critical state Assembly elections with potential national ramifications, voting for Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024 started here on Wednesday morning, amid tight police security.
A few prominent candidates who hurried out early to vote included RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Shiv Sena Mumbadevi nominee Shaina Nana Chudasama, Bollywood actor Akshay Khanna.
Many people, including excited youngsters and first-time voters, started queueing up outside polling stations in Mumbai, enjoying a mild winter nip in the air.
During the day, over 9.50 crore people in Maharashtra are expected to troop out and make their choice between the ruling MahaYuti alliance and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi-INDIA bloc.
The ruling alliance comprises Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde, the Bharatiya Janata Party with Deputy CM Devendra FAdnavis, and the Nationalist Congress Party headed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
The MVA-INDIA bloc consists of Congress led by Nana F. Patole, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) headed by Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena(UBT) helmed by Uddhav Thackeray.
Many candidates, trying to hide their nervousness, got up early to pray, went to nearby temples, took the blessings of their elders, and then proceeded to their designated polling stations.
Both sides are confident of sweeping the polls. Till Tuesday evening, the two sides -- MahaYuti and MVA -- were confidently crowing how they are poised to form the next regime with anything between 165-180 seats under their respective belts.
There are a total of 4,136 candidates vying for the 288 constituencies hailing from the two main rival alliances, plus other parties or groups and Independents, including a motley of rebels with damaging prospects on official nominees.
Among the major contestants, the BJP is contesting 148 seats, Shiv Sena pitching for 80, NCP is in the fray for 53 seats, the Congress is contesting 103, SS (UBT) is fighting in 89, and NCP(SP) is in the fray for 87 seats, besides six for their smaller allies.
Besides, there is the Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati which has put up 237 candidates, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi of Prakash Ambedkar with 200 contestants, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray with 128 nominees.
The Congress will lock horns with the BJP in at least 75 seats across the state, NCP(SP) versus NCP in around 41 constituencies, and SS(UBT) vis-a-vis Shiv Sena in some 53 seats.
For the Shiv Sena-NCP, it will be a verdict of sorts for legitimacy over the SS(UBT) and NCP(SP) after the splits in June 2022 and July 2023 that rocked Maharashtra politics.
All the parties have their pockets of influence in the 288 seats that are spread out in the state -- Mumbai and coastal Konkan belt (74) seats, Vidarbha region 62 seats, 58 in Western Maharashtra, 47 in North Maharashtra, and 46 in Marathwada.
Some of the bigwigs whose fate will be sealed in the EVMs today include CM Shinde (Kopri-Pachpakhadi), Dy CM Fadnavis (Nagpur South West), Dy CM Ajit Pawar (Baramati), Milind Deora (Worli), Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Kamthi).
Others are: Nana Patole (Sakoli), Prithviraj Chavan (Karad South), Chhagan Bhujbal (Yeola), Nitesh N. Rane (Kankavli), Yugendra S. Pawar (Baramati), Aditya Thackeray (Worli), Amit Thackeray of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Mahim), Kedar Dighe (Kopri-Pachpakhadi), Nilesh N. Rane (Kudal), Abu Asim Azmi (Mankhurd-Shivajinagar), Nawab Malik (Anushakti Nagar), Rahul Narwekar (Colaba), Hitendra Thakur (Virar), among others.
The state election authorities have made elaborate arrangements for the polls and the state police have deployed tight security to thwart any untoward incidents during the voting, besides other state and para-military forces.
In the country’s commercial capital, the security is overseen by five Additional Commissioners of Police, 20 Deputy Commissioners of Police, 83 Assistant Commissioners of Police, 2000 other officers, plus 25,000 police personnel, three platoons of the riot control police, 144 officers and around 1,000 traffic police personnel, over 4,000 Home Guards and others drawn from various state and central security forces are on duty.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: qnajmi@gmail.com)