An average of 52.49 percent voting was reported from Maharashtra till 5 pm. The voting was by and large peaceful. At a few polling stations in Jalna, some technical failure was reported in the voting machines right before the polling started in the morning. However, the election department immediately changed the machines and there was no disruption in the voting process. Some of the prominent candidates in this phase include Union minister Raosaheb Danve, BJP leader Pankaja Munde and actor-turned-politician Amol Kolhe.
Akashwani correspondent reports the fate of 298 candidates contesting for 11 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra is now sealed in EVMs. Attractive flower rangolis, colourful balloons and theme-based decoration adorned most polling booths. Uniquely decorated selfie points using banana leaves were the highlight of polling stations in Raver town of Jalgaon district. In Nandurbar, a 99-year-old person named Ismail Mahmad Baduda (इस्माईल महंमद बदुडा) chose to fulfil his national duty by visiting his allocated booth instead of voting from home. 29 third gender voters, who live together in Srirampur of Shirdi constituency, came together and exercised their right to vote. With this, polling for 35 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra is now complete with the remaining seats set to vote for the fifth and final phase on 20th May.
Disclaimer: This press release is sourced from News On AIR, Prasar Bharti and Press Information Bureau India (PIB).
