6.5 pc polling till 9 am in Maharashtra Assembly elections

Altogether 6.5 percent voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours in Maharashtra, after polling for the 288 Assembly seats began at 7 am on Monday, officials said. Election officials said Mumbai suburbs recorded 5.64 percent polling in the first two hours.

Long queues were observed outside several polling stations, indicating the percentage may go up in subsequent hours, the official said. Voting will end at 6 pm.

The Mumbai suburban area, comprising 26 Assembly seats, recorded 5.64 percent polling in the first two hours, he said. Other urban areas like Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad reported a moderate response, while the turnout in rural areas was on the higher side, he said.

Kolhapur reported 9.93 percent voting in the first two hours. The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Nearly 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.

Maharashtra recorded 63.38 percent turnout in 2014 Assembly elections.