First phase of voting for the 2024 election begins today. Voting in total 102 Lok Sabha seats will be conducted in all over the country. Among them voting will be done in Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara- Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur district. Election commission has set up 10,652 polling stations where 95.54 lakh voters will cast their votes to decide the fate of 97 candidates. EC has prepared 21,527 ballot units (BU) and 13,963 Control units (CU) and 14,755 VVPAT's for the first phase election in Maharashtra.
Chief Election officer S Chokkalingam Said " The materials and equipment required for this election have been provided at the polling station. Adequately trained electoral staff and officials are available for the smooth conduct of elections. Police personnel have also been deployed. Their services have been made available by randomization of this manpower . Also, seven helicopters have been sent to Gadchiroli constituency."
Moreover, The inspection of EVM and Vvpat provided at the polling station has been completed and they have also been randomized . In these five Lok Sabha constituencies, the commissioning of EVMs and Vvpat machines is being done on the basis of assembly constituencies. CRPF units have been deployed in sensitive polling stations .
Voters above 85 years of age as well as disabled voters have been provided the facility of home voting as per their wish. Ramps and wheelchair facilities have been made available at polling stations for disabled voters. In this, a total of 9,416 voters will exercise their right to vote through ( Electronically transmitted Postal ballot System ) ETPBS and a total of 6,630 voters who are senior citizens above 85 years and disabled will exercise their right to vote through the 12D application.
General polling hours are from 7 am to 6 pm. The polling time is from 7 am to 3 pm in four assembly constituencies of Amgaon , Armori , Gadchiroli , Aheri in the Lok Sabha constituency of Gadchiroli-Chimur (AJ) and in one assembly constituency Arjuni Morgaon in the Lok Sabha constituency of Bhandara-Gondia.
There are 48 constituencies in Maharashtra and the state stands at the second position after Uttar Pradesh in highest number of seats. In the last election BJP-undivided Shivsena secured 43 seats. Congress won one seat and NCP had won four seats.
East Vidarbha Constituency
East Vidarbha where first phase of voting will be done is considered as a bastion of BJP. in last election BJP had won four seats out of five seats. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra foreign minister Sudhir Mungantiwar are contesting election in the first phase.
There is a direct fight between Nitin Gadkari of BJP and Vikas Thackeray of Congress.
Gadkari campaigned on his development work done in Nagpur and Vikas Thackeray campaigned what development Gadkari did in the Nagpur. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has supported congress here. RSS headquarter is at Nagpur therefore, Nagpur seat is prestigious for BJP. Gadkari is a two time MP from Nagpur. in the year 2014 he had defeated Vilas Muttemwar of Congress with a margin of 2.84 lakh votes and in the year 2019 he had defeated Nana Patole by margin of 2.16 lakh votes. Therefore, Gadkari's position is high in the constituency.
Ramtek Constituency
Second important seat in Nagpur is Ramtek Constituency. Raju Parve of Shivsena is fighting against Shyamkumar Barve of Congress. Parve was Congress MLA and joined Shivsena to get the seat. Shiv Sainiks of Ramtek are disappointed in giving him a ticket. He targeted MVA in the campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a rally for him. The election commission had cancelled Rashmi Barwe's nomination after noticing her caste certificate was bogus; this could give sympathy to the Congress in this region. CM Shinde on Wednesday had conducted a bike rally in 42 degree celsius temperature in support of Parve.
Vidarbha Seat
Third important seat in Vidarbha is Chandrapur from where Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is contesting election against Pratibha Dhanorkar of Congress. Pratibha is wife of late Congress MP Balu Dhanorkar. Munganitwar is promoting development activities of Chandrapur and Dhanorkar is dependent on caste based politics. PM Modi had conducted a rally for his support recently.
Bhandara-Gondia Constituency
Fourth important seat in the first phase of election is Bhandara- Gondia. Current MP Sunil Mendhe has been given a second chance by the BJP leadership. Dr. Prashant Padole is the Congress candidate from the constituency. Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi conducted rallies for their candidates. This seat is prestigious for State Congress President Nana Patole and Praful Patel of NCP.
Gadchiroli-Chimur Constituency
The fifth constituency is Gadchiroli -Chimur constituency. There is a fight between Ashok Nete of BJP and Namdev Kirsan of Congress. Nete is contesting loksabha for third time where Kirsan is new face from Congress party. Namdev Usandi who had lost the 2019 election against Ashok Nete, again demanded a seat but he had left congress and joined BJP after Kirsan was given a ticket. NCP Ajit Pawar had claimed the seat therefore, BJP took time to declare the name of candidate. There was an exchange of words between Congress leader Vijay Vadettiwar and NCP MLA Dharmrao baba atram during the campaign.
