The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced a further increase in voter turnout of Maharashtra to 66.05 per cent from 65.1 per cent it had announced on Wednesday, the day of polls. This is the highest since 1995 when the state witnessed a voter turnout of 71.69 per cent.
While 61.4 per cent of the electorate exercised their voting rights in the 2019 assembly elections, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the voter turnout stood at 61.39 per cent.
The increase is of around 5 per cent votes and could emerge as a big factor in deciding the winner. As against 8.85 crore registered voters in 2019, the number of registered voters is up by 9.5 per cent to 9.69 crore. So a higher voter turnout on an increased vote base is set to become a key factor in the results to be announced on Saturday.
While the increase in voter turnout is being attributed to the fierce campaign undertaken by ruling Mahayuti and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), it may turn out to be a major factor in the results in a close contest.
During the Lok Sabha polls, the three parties in Mahayuti — BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP — polled an aggregate of 42.71 per cent votes, while the three allies of Maha Vikas Aghadi — Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP (SP) — together polled 43.91 per cent votes.
The numbers show that the rural voters came out in large numbers compared to urban. Kolhapur district of Western Maharashtra region registered the highest polling of 76.63 per cent, while Mumbai city registered the lowest voter turnout of 52.65 per cent.
In a one-phase election in Maharashtra, Karvir assembly seat in Kolhapur district recorded the highest voting percentage of 84.96 per cent. At Karvir, Rahul Patil, son of late MLA PN Patil is contesting from Congress against Shiv Sena’s Chandradip Narke.
South Mumbai’s Colaba constituency witnessed the lowest voter turnout at 44.44 per cent. Rahul Narvekar of BJP is contesting against Hira Dewasi of Congress at the seat.
The total number of electors in Maharashtra are around 9.7 crore, of which 5 crore are male, 4.69 crore female and 6,101 others. As per ECI data, 4,136 candidates are in the fray for the Assembly polls, of which 3,771 are male candidates, 363 female and two others. Of the total 1,00,186 polling stations, 42,604 are urban while 57,582 are rural.
