43.78 pc polling till 3 pm in Maharashtra Assembly elections

Altogether 43.78 percent voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm on Monday in Maharashtra, after polling for the 288 Assembly seats began at 7 am, poll officials said. The Congress-NCP combine is seeking to dislodge the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government in the state in the polls.

Akkalkuwa constituency in north Maharashtra recorded 55.64 percent voting till 3 pm, while Magathane in north Mumbai recorded 40.17 percent polling during the same period. Voting will end at 6 pm.

Prominent personalities who voted include RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, CM Devendra Fadnavis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Several Bollywood celebrities, including Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene and Lara Dutta, stepped out to vote for the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Actor Riteish Deshmukh and wife Genelia cast their vote in Latur district, where Amit and Dheeraj, brothers of Ritesh and sons of former CM late Vilasrao Deshmukh, are contesting as Congress candidates. A nonagenarian was the cynosure of all eyes as he accompanied Union minister Smriti Irani outside a polling booth in Mumbai.

"Today's hero is Khanna Sahab, who has served in the Army. He is 93 and came out to vote. It is an inspiration," Irani said. 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..