In drought-hit central Maharashtra, a test for ruling, Oppn alliances

Close to 61.78% voters turned out to vote as polling was held for Maharashtra’s 10 Lok Sabha seats in the second phase of national elections on Thursday.

Close to 61.78% voters turned out to vote as polling was held for Maharashtra’s 10 Lok Sabha seats in the second phase of national elections on Thursday. As many as 179 candidates, including former chief ministers, Ashok Chavan (Nanded) and Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur), and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader, Prakash Ambedkar (Solapur), were in the fray.

Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde with his family members show their marked-fingers after casting their vote at Aas School in Amroha on Thursday. (ANI photo)

Seven out of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats went to the polls in the first phase on April 11.

This time around, drought affected Vidarbha and Marathwada regions went to polls.

Officials said Nanded and Hingoli recorded a turnout of 60.88% and 60.69% until 5 pm on Thursday. Buldhana recorded a turnout of 57.09%, and Amravati 55.43% by then.

Officials said 20,716 polling booths were set up for the polling. The Election Commission (EC)’s flying squads seized ~42 crore cash that was unaccounted for as well as liquor and drugs worth ~27 crore, said an official on condition of anonymity.

The Congress filed 33 complaints related to Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunction in Solapur, Nanded, and Hingoli as well regarding insufficient lighting at polling booths.

“This led to long queues outside polling booths that negatively impacted voting,” said Vijay Pande of the Congress’s legal cell. Prakash Ambedkar’s son, Sujat, alleged EVMs had been hacked in Solapur.

“People were facing issues with EVMs at around 14 places in urban areas and over 22 places in rural areas in Solapur. VBA has the fourth slot on EVMs. At some places, our button for voting is not working while at others votes to VBA are going into BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] candidate’s account,” he told reporters.

In Akola, Shrikrishna Ghyare, a school teacher, was arrested for damaging an EVM in Kawtha village. He damaged the machine in protest against the EVM voting system, according to people familiar with the matter.

In Nanded, Chavan is up against the BJP’s Pratap Chikhalikar as he seeks to retain his seat. BJP’s Pritam Munde is seeking re-election from Beed with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Bajrang Sonawane as her main challenger.

She won by-polls following the death of her father and Union minister, Gopinath Munde, in June 2014. In Osmanabad, cousins Rana Jagjitsinh Patil (NCP) and Omraje Nimbalkar (Shiv Sena) are up against each other. Shinde is facing a tough fight against BJP’s Jai Siddheshwar Shivacharya Swami and Prakash Ambedkar in Solapur. He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections

Neha Deotale, 22, a first-time voter from Tiwsa in Amravati district, said she voted for change.

“We want change and have voted for the candidate, who can give the region a facelift. Let us hope for the best,” she said.