Over 30% polling in Maharashtra, Haryana till noon

According to information received, Maharashtra recorded 33% voter turnout with Mumbai's turnout recorded at 21.6% till 1 pm.

On the other hand, 38% voter turnout recorded in Haryana during the same time.

In Maharashtra, many prominent political and celebrities did cast their vote.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule cast their vote.

So did another party leader Praful Patel.

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.

BJP leaders like Prakash Javadekar, Devendra Fadnavis, who is BJP State President also did cast their vote.

Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray exercised their franchisee.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan did cast his vote in Karad.

Not only political leaders, but celebrities in Mumbai also queued up to cast their vote.

Bollywood diva of yesteryear' Rekha and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar voted in Mumbai.

Later Sachin posted his selfie on micro-blogging site Twitter and said, "Day to be Responsible. I have voted, am sure you have too !!"

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani also did cast his vote in Mumbai.

On the other hand, BJP leader Captain Abhimanyu and Gurgaon BJP MP Rao Inderjit Singh did cast their vote from Hisar and Rewari in Haryana respectively.

Like Maharashtra, here also long queues were seen outside polling stations.

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.

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.