68 pc turnout recorded in final phase of Jharkhand polls
MUMBAI/RANCHI, Nov 20: Altogether 58.43 per cent voters exercised their franchise Wednesday in the assembly elections in Maharashtra, where the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is vying to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine is hoping for a comeback.
The figures are provisional, election officials said, adding 61.74 per cent polling was recorded in the 2019 elections.
Voting began in all the 288 assembly seats at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. The votes will be counted on November 23.
SPORADIC INCIDENTS
Polling was marred by incidents of vandalism at Parli and a few places in Beed district, and also saw rival party supporters clashing in some places.
A clash broke out between Shiv Sena candidate Suhas Kande and independent candidate Sameer Bhujbal in Nandgaon assembly constituency of Nashik district.
A polling booth was vandalised and a worker of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) was assaulted in Parli assembly constituency, where minister Dhananjay Munde of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP was in the fray.
Madhav Jadhav, a local leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party was assaulted in Bank Colony area of Parli town and the video of the assault went viral on social media, after which a polling booth at Ghatnandur in the constituency was vandalised, an official said.
Some people entered the polling booth at Ghatnandur, threw the EVM on the ground and damaged the furniture in the booth, the official said. Beed Collector Avinash Pathak said the administration replaced the EVMs and voting resumed. The data of votes cast through the earlier EVMs is safe in their control units and will be included during counting, he said.
The NCP (SP) candidate from Parli assembly constituency, Rajesaheb Deshmukh claimed that a CCTV camera was disabled at a polling booth in Dharmapuri in the constituency.
In Nashik district, a technical glitch occurred when an Electronic Voting Machine malfunctioned at a polling station, causing brief delays for voters who had already received indelible ink marks.
The incident occurred at a polling centre in the Nandgaon assembly constituency.
JHARKHAND
Polling was peaceful on Wednesday as nearly 68 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm in 38 constituencies in Jharkhand where voting for the second and final phase of the assembly elections ended, officials said.
Polling began at 7 AM in 14,218 booths across 12 districts and continued till 5 PM. However, polling in 31 booths ended at 4 PM. People standing in the queue at those hours were allowed to exercise their franchise, the officials said.
The ruling JMM-led INDIA bloc is seeking to retain power riding on its welfare schemes, while the BJP-headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is trying to wrest it. (PTI)