Mumbai: Hectic campaigning marked by rallies and roadshows came to an end at 6 pm on Saturday in 11 constituencies of Maharashtra where polling will take place on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Polling will be held in Pune City, Maval, Shirur, Ahmadnagar, Shirdi, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Unseasonal rain dampened the enthusiasm of the last hour of campaigning.
The fate of 298 candidates including Union minister Raosaheb Danve of the BJP (in Jalna constituency), former state minister and BJP leader Pankaja Munde (Beed), actor Amol Kolhe of the NCP (SP) (Shirur, Pune district) and Sujay Vikhe Patil of the BJP (Ahmednagar) will be decided in this phase.
There are 2,28,01,151 registered voters in the 11 constituencies covered in the fourth phase – 1,18,59,645 male, 1,09,40,234 female and 1,272 of third gender. As many as 23,284 polling stations have been established across the constituencies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, MVA leaders Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray and Mahayuti's Ajit Pawar conducted rallies in support of their candidates.
Fourth phase of elections were known for Modi's remark “bhatakti aatma” and calling Uddhav as “nakli son” of Bal Thackeray. A strong reaction had come from NCP (SP), Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut against Modi. Raut termed Modi as 'Latakati' aatma'.
The fourth phase also drew attention when Modi had given an open offer to Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to be a part of the BJP alliance. Moreover, Ajit Pawar threatened NCP (SP) candidates Nilesh Lanke and Bajrang Sonawane to see how they got elected in this election.
Voters 2,28,01,151
Male 1,18,59,645
Female 1,09,40,234
Third gender 1,272
