10% voting for 14 seats in Maharashtra

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Around 10 per cent voting was recorded for the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra here on Tuesday, as polling continued on a peaceful note, election officials said.

The voting percentage was recorded till 9.30 a.m. after polling began at 7 a.m.

The fate of several political stalwarts, scions, royals and rebels including Shiv Sena Union Minister Anant Geete, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Raosaheb Danve-Patil and big political clans like the Pawars and Vikhe-Patils will be decided by the voters.

Voting is underway in: Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Raigad, Pune, Baramati, Ahmednagar, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hathkanangale constituencies.

The main contests are between the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena and opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), besides the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) Dalit-Muslim front comprising Prakash Ambedkar's Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and Owaisi brothers' All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, and some local/regional parties.

Danve-Patil, NCP senior leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar with his wife Sunetra, Supriya Sule and her family, Bollywood actor Amol Palekar and his family and others, who will choose from among the 249 candidates.

Snaky queues of voters were witnessed outside polling stations in Raigad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Jalna, Satara, Kolhapur and other places with enthusiastic first timers and cool senior citizens lined up to exercise their franchise.

There are several key contests among these 14 seats, nine of which are held by the BJP-Shiv Sena, while four are with NCP, and one with Shetkari Swabhimani Sanghatana (SSS).

There are approximately 2 crore eligible voters in this phase. Voting will end at 6 p.m.