At 1 pm, Haryana (27%) ahead of Maha (18.5%)
October 21, 2019 13:33
Union Minister Smriti Irani casts her vote at a polling booth in Mumbai. Voting began on a brisk note in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana on Monday with people queuing up outside polling booths since early morning. Maharashtra polled 18.5 per cent, while Haryana polled 27 per cent till 1 pm.
Polling is also being held in the by-election to 51 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states.
The voting commenced at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who was among the early voters in Nagpur, said people will vote on the basis of the five-year performance of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Devendra Fadnavis-led dispensation in Maharashtra.
"The BJP-Sena will have a record-breaking victory and Fadnavis will be the chief minister again," he told reporters after casting his vote. In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the NCP, a total of 8,98,39,600 people, including 4,28,43,635 women, are eligible to vote.
As many as 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are contesting in 288 seats and 96,661 polling booths are in place with 6.5 lakh staff for the voting exercise.
The ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling JJP for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana which has over 1.83 crore voters, including 85 lakh women and 252 transgenders, while 19,578 polling stations have been set up.
Counting of votes will be on October 24.
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