Maharashtra Polling Today: 6.61 pc voter turnout recorded till 9 am

The voter turnout in Maharashtra's 288 Assembly constituencies till 9 a.m. was reported at 6.61 per cent, said officials here on Wednesday after the polling started at 7 a.m.

According to the office of the state chief electoral officer (CEO), the district-wise voting percentage was:

Ahmednagar - 5.91 per cent, Akola - 6.0 per cent, Amravati - 6.6 per cent, Aurangabad - 7.5 per cent, Beed - 6.88 per cent, Bhandara - 6.21 per cent, Buldhana - 6.16 per cent, Chandrapur - 8.5 per cent, Dhule - 6.79 per cent, Gadchiroli - 12.33 per cent, Gondia - 7.94 per cent, Hingoli - 6.45 per cent, Jalgaon - 5.85 per cent, Jalna - 7.51 per cent, Kolhapur - 7.38 per cent, Latur 5.91 per cent, Mumbai city - 6.25 per cent, Mumbai suburbs - 7.88 per cent, Nagpur - 6.86 per cent, Nanded - 5.42 per cent, Nandurbar - 7.76 per cent, Nashik - 6.89 per cent, Osmanabad - 4.85 per cent, Palghar-7.30 per cent, Parbhani -6.59 per cent, Pune - 5.53 per cent, Raigad - 7.55 per cent, Ratnagiri - 9.30 per cent, Sangli - 6.14 per cent, Satara - 5.14 per cent, Sindhudurg - 8.61 per cent, Solapur - 5.7 per cent, Thane 6.66 per cent, Wardha - 5.93 per cent, Washim - 5.33 per cent and Yavatmal - 7.17 per cent.

The polling started peacefully though the supporters of Shiv Sena nominee Suhas Kande and Independent Samir Bhujbal engaged in a war of words in the Nandgaon constituency from Nashik district.

A video went viral on social media about claims of bogus voting in Beed by removing CCTV at a polling station. In Shirdi seat, Congress nominee Prabhavati Ghogre alleged that students from out of Maharashtra have voted there illegally RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was among the first voters to cast his vote in Nagpur.

NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, NCP(SP) MP Supriya Sule and NCP(SP) nominee Yugendra Pawar voted in Baramati while Mumbai BJP Ashish Shelar cast his vote in Bandra West. Shiv Sena nominee Sada Sarvankar, who is pitted against MNS nominee Amit Thackeray and Shiv Sena nominee Mahesh Sawant, cast his vote.

The leader of Opposition in the state council, Ambadas Danve voted in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. 

(With inputs from IANS)