Elections for the Lok Sabha in 2024: Up till nine in the morning, eight Maharashtra LS seats had 7.4% turnout

In the second round of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, over 7.4% of the 1.49 eligible voters cast their votes in eight Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats until 9 am on Friday, according to authorities, as reported by news agency PTI.

In the west Vidarbha region’s Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, and Yavatmal-Washim seats as well as the Marathwada constituencies of Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani, voting began at 7 am and would conclude at 6 pm, according to authorities, as PTI reported.

In the second round of the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the Nanded seat registered 7.73 percent of votes cast till nine in the morning. According to PTI, the average turnout in these eight seats is almost 7.4%. It was at 7.23 percent in Hingoli, 9.72 percent in Parbhani, Wardha (7.18), Akola (7.17), Amravati (6.34), Buldhana (6.61), and Yavatmal-Washim (7.23).

Among the first voters in the Nanded constituency was former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently defected from the Congress to the BJP.

A total of 1.49 crore people are eligible to vote at 16,589 polling places to decide the destiny of 204 candidates vying for the eight seats. These voters include 77,21,374 males, 72,04,106 women, and 432 members of the third gender group.

21 candidates from Buldhana, 15 from Akola, 37 from Amravati, 24 from Wardha, 17 from Yavatmal-Washim, 33 from Hingoli, 23 from Nanded, and 34 from the Parbhani seat are among the 204 competitors.

Voters in five east Vidarbha seats—Nagapur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia, and Gadchiroli-Chimur—turned out to vote on April 19, with a turnout of 63.70%.

A direct struggle is taking place in Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim, and Hingoli between the Shiv Sena, headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray.

In coalition with the BJP, the Shiv Sena ran unbroken in the state’s most recent general elections. After Shinde staged a revolt, toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration, and joined with the BJP to win the chief ministership in 2022, the party divided.

Prataprao Jadhav, a current Shiv Sena MP, is up against Sena leader Narendra Khedekar in Buldhana (UBT).

Rajashri Patil is the nominee put forth by the Shiv Sena in Yavatmal-Washim, replacing Bhavana Gawli, the current MP. Patil will face up against the Thackeray-led party’s Sanjay Deshmukh.

Hemant Patil, Rajashtri Patil’s spouse and current Member of Parliament, lost his seat in Hingoli to the Shiv Sena, who nominated Baburao Kohalikar. The Sena candidate is running against Sena (UBT) member Nagesh Patil Ashtikar.

In Parbhani, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha’s Mahadev Jankar is running against Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee MP Sanjay Jadhav.

The Mahayuti coalition, which is headed by Ajit Pawar and consists of the BJP, Shiv Shinde Sena, and the NCP, has endorsed Jankar.

Prakash Ambedkar, the leader of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the grandson of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, has put up candidates for seven seats, including his own from Akola. As a Republican Sena nominee, his brother Anandraj Ambedkar is competing in Amravati.

Prakash Ambedkar is the third contender in the Akola campaign, which pits Anup Dhotre of the BJP against Abhay Patil of the Congress.

MP Navneet Rana, who is now running as a BJP candidate, is facing off against Congressman Balwant Wankhede in Amravati. The candidate for the Prahar Janshakti Party is Dinesh Bub. The Prahar party is an associate of the governing coalition and has two lawmakers in the legislature.

There is a struggle going on in Wardha between BJP MP Ramdas Tadas and former Congress MLA Amar Kale, who is running on the NCP’s emblem, “a man blowing turha” (a traditional trumpet).

BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar faces Congress candidate Vasant Chavan in Nanded.

Between May 7 and May 20, Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats—more than any other state save Uttar Pradesh—will have three further voting phases.