Today, electorates in five constituencies in Maharashtra will cast their votes to choose their next Members of Parliament.
Constituencies where voting will take place are Nagpur, Chandrapur, Ramtek (SC), Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST) and Bhandara-Gondia, all in the Vidarbha region of the western State.
The State sends 48 MPs to the Lower House, the largest number after Uttar Pradesh’s 80, and will vote in five phases starting from Friday.
In Nagpur, Congress’ Vikas Thakre, MLA and former city Mayor, is fielded against Union Minister and BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari, while in Chandrapur, State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is taking on Congress’ Pratibha Dhanorkar. The seat was held by her late husband, Suresh ‘Balu’ Dhanorkar, who passed away last year.
In Ramtek, Congress’ Shamsundar Barve faces off against Raju Parwe, a former Congress MLA from Umred who recently switched allegiance to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
And in Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST) and Bhandara-Gondia, BJP’s sitting MPs, Ashok Nete and Sunil Mendhe, respectively, are fielded against the grand old party’s Dr. Namdev Kirsan and Prashanth Padole.
As many as 295 polling personnel along with EVMs of 68 booths at sensitive and hypersensitive locations in the Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district were moved to designated areas with the help of helicopters of the Indian Air Force and the Army three days before the polls.
Ramtek, a constituency with a mix of Nagpur’s semi-urban and rural voters, was previously represented by former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1984 and 1989. It is the only Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra from which a former MP ascended to become the country’s Prime Minister.
In contrast to other areas where polling continues until 6 P.M., five Assembly segments across two Lok Sabha seats in the Naxal-affected areas of Gadchiroli, and Bhandara-Gondia have voting hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
While four of these seats are witnessing head-to-head contests between BJP and Congress candidates, Ramtek is experiencing an electoral showdown between the Congress and Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena. According to Maharashtra’s CEO S. Chockalingam, voting is taking place in 10,652 polling centres with 21,527 ballot units, 13,963 control units, and 14,755 VVPAT machines available. In Maharashtra, during the first phase, a total of 9,416 differently-abled voters and 6,630 senior citizens above 85 years are eligible to cast their votes and the poll body has made special arrangements for them.
The high-profile Lok Sabha constituency of Nagpur, has the highest number of registered transgender voters, 222, followed by 55 voters in Ramtek.
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