The relatively low percentage of voting has the ruling Mahayuti worried. This is because the alliance was expecting a higher turnout given the extensive voter mobilisation done by its members and slew of public rallies addressed by national leaders. BJP activists said the searing heat was preventing voters from stepping out of their homes.
A voter turnout of 53.51 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in eight constituencies of Maharashtra in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said. This was the lowest among all states which went to polls on Friday. In first held on April 19, the state witnessed 63.70 % turnout in the five seats - Nagpur, Ramtek, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur.
Voting was held in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in the central Marathwada region.
Till 5 pm, Wardha recorded 56.66 per cent turnout, Amravati 54.50, Yavatmal-Washim 54.04, Parbhani 53.79, Akola 52.49, Nanded 52.47, Buldhana 52.24 and Hingoli 52.03, election officials said.
At Rampuri in Nanded Lok Sabha constituency, a 26-year-old man allegedly damaged an electronic voting machine (EVM) by hitting it with an iron object when he came to cast his vote around 4 pm, a police official said.
He was detained and during his questioning, he told the police that he wanted a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government in power, he said.
According to officials, there were a total of 204 candidates in the fray -- 21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani.
As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) were eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres.
Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the BJP, voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Nanded.
Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Hingoli are witnessing a direct fight between the Shiv Sena ( Eknath Shinde) and the Shiv Sena (UBT).
The undivided Shiv Sena contested the last general elections in the state in alliance with the BJP. It split in 2022 after Shinde led a rebellion, toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray and joined hands with the BJP to become the CM.
In Buldhana, sitting Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Narendra Khedekar of Sena (UBT).
The Shiv Sena has nominated Rajashri Patil in Yavatmal-Washim, dropping sitting MP Bhavana Gawli in a controversial move. Patil is pitted against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
In Hingoli, Rajashtri Patil's husband and sitting MP Hemant Patil was replaced by the Shiv Sena, which gave the ticket to Baburao Kohalikar. The Sena nominee is contesting against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of Sena (UBT).
In Parbhani, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha is contesting against MP Sanjay Jadhav, nominated by the Shiv Sena (UBT). Jankar is a prominent leader of the Dhangar community.
Jankar has been backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shiv Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has fielded candidates in seven seats, including himself from Akola. His brother Anandraj Ambedkar is in the fray in Amravati as a Republican Sena nominee.
In Akola, the contest is between Anup Dhotre of BJP and Abhay Patil of Congress, with Prakash Ambedkar as the third candidate.
Amravati is seeing a battle between sitting MP Navneet Rana, now contesting as a BJP nominee, against Balwant Wankhede of Congress. Rana had won the 2019 polls as an independent. Dinesh Bub is the Prahar Janshakti Party candidate. The Prahar party, which has two legislators in the assembly, is an ally of the ruling Mahayuti.
In Wardha, there is a fight between former Congress MLA Amar Kale, contesting on the symbol of the NCP (Sharad Pawar) - "a man blowing turha" (a traditional trumpet) - against BJP MP Ramdas Tadas.
In Nanded, BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar is pitted against Congress nominee Vasant Chavan.
Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, will vote in three more phases on May 7, 13 and May 20.
