LIVE: Till 9 pm, 6.61% voting in Maharashtra, 12.71% voting in Jharkhand
#News Bureau November 20,2024
Voting is being held on Wednesday for the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. This election will decide the fate of the ruling and opposition political alliances in both states. Voting is being held in one phase on all seats in Maharashtra, while voting is being held in the second and final phase in Jharkhand on Wednesday. Voting in both the states started at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. Along with this, by-elections are also being held for assembly seats in many states. This includes nine seats of Uttar Pradesh.
In the second phase of Jharkhand, 12.71% voting has taken place in the first two hours of voting. Voting is going on in 38 seats in this phase.
In Maharashtra, 6.61% voting has taken place till 9 am on Wednesday. Voting was very slow in many districts of Maharashtra in the first two hours.
By-election in UP: After the uproar in Kakroli, UP, the mob pelted stones. After this the police used lathis, heavy police force is present on the spot.
9.67 percent voting took place in 9 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh till 9 am. Kundarki recorded the highest voter turnout in UP at 13.59 per cent.
Ajit Pawar, who came out to vote in Baramati, said, “Mahayuti will form the government. However, it is always difficult when the fight is against a family member.” Ajit Pawar is contesting against his nephew Yugendra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon voters of Maharashtra and Jharkhand to participate enthusiastically and stressed the importance of democratic participation.
Mahayuti vs MVA in Maharashtra
The election in Maharashtra is almost a direct contest between the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the opposition MVA. Several top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi campaigned in the state in the days before the election.
The Mahayuti is banking on its popular schemes for women like Ladki Behan to help it retain power. But the use of slogans like ‘Batenge to Katenge’ and ‘Ek Hai to Surakshit Hai’ by alliance leaders has led opposition parties to accuse the Mahayuti of polarising voters.
The MVA has focused on issues such as caste-based census, social justice and protecting the Constitution. It aims to attract voters who felt neglected by the ruling Eknath Shinde government.
In the last assembly elections, there was a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Then BJP won 105 and Shiv Sena 56 seats, while Congress got 44 and NCP got 54 seats. BJP-Shiv Sena would have easily come to power, but the alliance broke. After political upheaval, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister on 23 November 2019, but both had to resign before the majority test. After this, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came to power. Uddhav Thackeray became the CM of Maharashtra. After about two and a half years, there was a rebellion in Shiv Sena and Uddhav’s government fell. BJP formed the government in alliance with the rebel Shinde faction. Shinde became the Chief Minister. A year after that, there was a rebellion in NCP and it also got divided into two camps. This is the first election after these developments.
