Over 18% voter turnout recorded till 11 am in Maharashtra

An average 18.39 percent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours (till 11 am) on Monday in Maharashtra, where polling for 17 seats in the fourth and last phase of Lok Sabha elections is currently underway.

The voter turnout was around 7 percent till 9 am.

Polling for the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies began at 7 am and long queues were seen outside many booths. BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, industrialist Anil Ambani, Congress nominee Urmila Matondkar and actor Rekha were among the early voters in Mumbai.

State education minister Vinod Tawde, BJP candidate from Mumhai-North East Manoj Kotak and Congress nominee from Mumbai-Central Eknath Gaikwad also exercised their franchise in the initial hours.

So far, Nandurbar Lok Sabha seat recorded the highest polling at 24.59 percent while Kalyan constituency saw lowest voter turnout of 13.91 percent, according to an official statement.

The voting figures till 11 am in other constituencies are as follows:

Dhule – 18.26 percent
Dindori – 21.06 percent
Nashik – 17.22 percent
Palghar – 21.46 percent
Bhiwandi – 17.25 percent
Thane – 17.43 percent
Mumbai-North – 19.46 percent
Mumbai-North West – 17.64 percent
Mumbai-North East – 18.39 percent
Mumbai-North Central – 16.21 percent
Mumbai-South Central – 16.80 percent
Mumbai- South – 15.51 percent
Maval – 18.23 percent
Shirur – 18.65 percent
Shirdi – 20.55 percent

As many as 3.11 crore voters spread across the Mumbai metropolitan region and northern and western Maharashtra are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 323 candidates in the fray in these 17 seats.

This is really heartening to see such a long queue for voting in #Mumbai. @MumbaiMirror #MumbaikarVoteKar https://t.co/ERF0sRhopp pic.twitter.com/kQlDHaiDz7

— Vallabh Ozarkar (@VallabhMIRROR) April 29, 2019

Around 40 polling booths in these constituencies, including 26 in suburban Mumbai, are being managed women.