Maharashtra Elections 2024 LIVE: Voter Turnout Nears 7% As Of 9 AM; Polling Underway For All 288 Seats

Veteran politician and NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the assembly elections will decide Maharashtra's future and appealed to people in the state to exercise their franchise.

Talking to reporters in Baramati town of Pune district after casting his vote, Pawar said all the electors should exercise their right to vote.

"This election is extremely important. It will decide the future of Maharashtra. I appeal to all citizens to come out and vote," he said.

"It is not good that the voter percentage in Maharashtra is less than smaller states in the north east," the former Union minister said.

For the Maharashtrs assembly polls, its Sena vs Sena and Pawar vs Pawar. Following their splits in 2022 and 2023, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party are the two key regional powers eying for power in the state.

For the 288 assembly seats, two major alliances have been formed in Maharashtra. The first comprises of the incumbent Shinde Sena with BJP and Ajit Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. This alliance is referred to as the Mahayuti alliance.

Contesting against the Mahayuti alliance is the Maha Vikas Aghadi - comprising of the Indian National Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.

As per the latest update from the Election Commission of India, the voter turnout for the Maharashtra assembly polls 2024 stands at 6.61 percent as of 9 AM.

Based on the data available, the highest turnout as been at Gadchiroli at 12.33 percent, followed by Ratnagiri at 9.3 percent.

Political parties of all hues are projecting themselves as saviours of vulnerable women from low-income groups. Zooming past Mumbai’s Western Expressway, one can see large hoardings of the ruling Mahayuti and its rival, the Mahavikas alliance, in succession offering increased bids in exchange for their valuable votes in the upcoming assembly elections.

After the Mahayuti coalition’s Chief Minister Eknath Shinde launched the flagship Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana (My Beloved Sister scheme), which doled out a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500, the Mahavikas alliance of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) has promised an increased allowance of Rs 3,000 per month to women under the Mahalaxmi Scheme, alongside free transportation in government buses and Mumbai local trains.

Read more here

With the polls open and voting underway, Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was spotted casting this vote, along with his wife Anjali Tendulkar and daughter Sara Tendulkar in Bandra West, Mumbai.

After casting his vote, the cricketer urged for maximum participation and urged all those eliglbe to cast their vote.

"I would like to appeal people to come out and vote, it is our responsibility. I am also an ECI icon, and I have been saying this. There are good facilities here."

In Mumbai’s twin city, another bursting-at-its-seams megapolis, Thane, a departed leader’s legacy is at the heart of an interesting electoral face-off.

Photos of the brooding-eyed and bearded Anand Dighe, a former Sena strongman, stare from rival poll banners featuring both Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the current head of the ‘original’ Shiv Sena, and his main electoral contender, Kedar, Dighe’s 44-year-old nephew, who is contesting from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction.

The two are vying for control of the Kopari-Pachpakhadi constituency, a traditional stronghold of middle-class Maharashtrian families, including residents of old gaothan areas, emerging high-rises, and slum settlements—and, of course, for Dighe’s political legacy.

Read more on the fight in Thane here

For the 288 assembly seats, two major alliances have been formed in Maharashtra. The first comprises of the incumbent Shinde Sena with BJP and Ajit Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. This alliance is referred to as the Mahayuti alliance.

Contesting against the Mahayuti alliance is the Maha Vikas Aghadi - comprising of the Indian National Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.

Throughout the election campaigning, leaders such as PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have been travelling across the state to gather support for their respective candidates and alliances.

Some of the key candidates in the Maharashtra elections are -

• Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from Kopri-Pachpakhadi

• Nana Patole from Sakoli

• Devendra Fadnavis from Nagpur South West

• Aaditya Thackeray from Worli

• Milind Deora from Worli

• Zeeshan Siddique from Bandra East

• Nawab Malik from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar

• Ajit Pawar from Baramati

• Rohit Patil from Tasgaon

The polls are open! All 9.7 crore voters across Maharashtra can now cast their votes for the next state government. For the 2024 assembly elections, a total of  1,00,186 polling stations across 52,789 locations have been set up.

Of the 9.7 crore voters, 4.97 crore are men, 4.66 crore women, and 20.93 lakh are first-time voters. The polling stations will stay open till 6 PM across the state.

Of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, 234 come under the general category, 29 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 25 constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

For the assembly polls, a total of 4,140 candidates are in the fray, including incumbent Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Congress' Nana Patole, Shiv Sena UBT's Aaditya Thackeray and many more

Election wars reached the front pages of Maharashtra’s significant newspapers as the last day of poll campaigning for the high-stake assembly elections came to an end.

The BJP played on the ‘fear factor’ raking up the ghastly terror attacks of the past. In contrast, the opposition Congress-led Mahavikas Aghadi highlighted corruption and ‘anti-Maharashtra’ governance under the BJP rule.

Read more the battle for Maharashtra in the frontpages here.

Following the splits in Shiv Sena and the NCP in 2022 and 2023 respectively, the Maharashtra assembly polls will be a battle is between the factions of the two key regional parties.

For the 2024 polls, each of the factions have teamed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress. Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and Sharad Pawar's NCP have teamed up to form the MVA alliance. Meanwhile, Shinde Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar's NCP have formed the Mahayuti alliance.

Currently, the Mahayuti alliance, led by CM Eknath Shinde is in power and are hoping to retain their position. However MVA and the former Thackeray government is hoping for a strong comeback.