Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat exercised his voting rights at a polling station in Nagpur, Maharashtra, as the Lok Sabha elections progressed on Friday. Displaying his inked finger, Bhagwat emphasized the importance of voting, stating, “Voting is our duty, our right. There should be 100 per cent polling. I have cast my vote.”
The ongoing Lok Sabha elections for 2024 commenced at 7:00 am today, covering 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories. The voting period will conclude at 6 pm.
Maharashtra, the second-largest state contributing 48 seats to the 543-member Lok Sabha, witnesses a fierce competition between two major state coalitions – the Mahayuti comprising Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).
Notable constituencies in Maharashtra include Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Ramtek, and Nagpur. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nitin Gadkari secured a significant victory with a vote share of 55.7 per cent, defeating Maharashtra Congress President, Nana Patole, by a margin of 2,16,009 votes. Similarly, in 2014, Gadkari triumphed over Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar by a margin of 2,84,828 votes.
Chandrapur, which was the only seat won by Congress in the 2019 elections, faces a challenging contest this time against BJP’s Sudhir Mungantiwar, the state’s Forests and Cultural Affairs Minister. Congress’s candidate, Pratibha Dhanorkar, seeks to maintain the party’s stronghold in the constituency.
In Ramtek, Congress candidate Shyamkumar Dault Barve contends against the BJP. Gadchiroli-Chimur, characterized by its vast region affected by Naxal violence, sees Congress’s Namdeo Dasaram Kirsan competing against BJP’s Ashok Mahadeorao Nete, the incumbent MP.
Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, stands as the second-largest after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 elections, the BJP secured 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with the Shiv Sena. Maharashtra’s Lok Sabha elections will span across five phases, with vote counting scheduled for June 4.
