The polling is underway for six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai, but amid voting day hotels and resorts at popular tourist destinations near Mumbai like Matheran, Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, and Alibaug are almost packed.
According to the Mumbai Mirror, due to the high demand for rooms at hotels and resorts, the room tariffs saw a massive spike. The hoteliers have said that most of the guests are from Mumbai and Pune. Rajesh Dhere, a hotelier in Alibaug, told the leading daily, “We started getting bookings for April 27-May 1 (which, too, is a public holding owing to the observance of Maharashtra Day) last month itself. These guests, however, are not youngsters. They are families from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.”
Ganesh Dhamal, owner of Royal Resort in Mahabaleshwar told the leading daily, “People started streaming in on Saturday. I am completely booked until Tuesday.” He added that most of his guests are from Mumbai and Thane.
Polling is underway since 7 am across the state’s 17 Lok Sabha seats where 3.11 crore voters are eligible to exercise their democratic right. Polling is being held in Nandurbar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik (North Maharashtra), Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai-North, Mumbai-North West, Mumbai-North Central, Mumbai-North East, Mumbai-South and Mumbai-South Central in the Mumbai region, Maval, and Shirur in Pune district, and Shirdi in Ahmednagar district.
