Brisk polling in Maharashtra, about 13 percent in Haryana till 10 AM

Voting is being held for 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra and 90 seats in Haryana. About 10 crore people are expected to exercise their franchises.

In Maharashtra, as many as 4,119 candidates are in the electoral fray, including 276 women. About 8.35 crore voters in the state are eligible to exercise their right to franchise.

Among the early voters were former state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Baramati, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Vinod Tawde in Mumbai, Bharatiya janata Party (BJP)’s Pankaja Munde in Beed and Bollywood diva of yesteryears Rekha in Mumbai.

In Haryana too, long queues were seen outside polling station with around 13 percent of voters turn out till 10 am.

Both the states are voting on Wednesday for new governments. The counting of votes will take place on October 19, Sunday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to fight these elections alone in both the Congress-ruled states with Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning extensively in run up to the election.

The PM addressed as many as 27 public meetings in Maharashtra and 11 in Haryana within just a span of about two weeks.

These are the first state elections since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government rode to power posting a grand victory in the general elections in April-May this year.

In Maharashtra, two long-time alliances, the BJP and Shiv Sena, parted their ways following disagreement over a seat sharing deal.

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance also came apart over seat sharing days before voting, making this a four-sided contest with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Narvnirman Sena (MNS) providing a fifth.