Counting of votes for Maharashtra Assembly elections will begin at 8 am on Saturday. All eyes are on the outcome of the contest between the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is trying to return to power. Election officials said that the final turnout in the voting held on November 20 was 66.05 percent whereas in 2019 this figure was 61.1 percent.
Voting will take place on 20th November
He said that counting of votes will also take place for Nanded Lok Sabha by-election, where 67.81 percent voting was recorded on November 20. He said that 76.63 percent voting took place in Kolhapur district of the state, followed by 75.26 percent voting in Gadchiroli, where some areas are affected by Left Wing Extremism, while the lowest voting was 52.07 percent in Mumbai. There was 55.95 percent voting in Mumbai suburban district.
288 counting centers were created
A total of 288 counting centers have been set up for counting of votes on Saturday, which also includes one center for Nanded Lok Sabha by-election. A total of 288 counting observers will monitor each assembly constituency, while two observers have been appointed to monitor counting in the Nanded Lok Sabha by-election, an official said.
BJP fielded candidates on 149 assembly seats
The official said that due to the high number of postal ballots, 1,732 tables for counting of postal ballots and 592 tables for Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) have been installed to ensure smooth counting process in all the assembly constituencies. In the grand alliance, Bharatiya Janata Party had fielded candidates on 149 assembly seats, Shiv Sena on 81 seats and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had fielded candidates on 59 constituencies.
Congress contested elections on 101 seats
A total of 4,136 candidates contested the elections
This time the number of candidates has increased by 28 percent compared to the 2019 assembly elections in the state. This year, 4,136 candidates contested the elections, while 3,239 candidates were in the fray in the 2019 elections. Of these candidates, 2,086 are independents. Rebel candidates were in the fray on more than 150 seats, with Mahayuti and MVA candidates contesting against their party's official candidates.
Police issued order regarding counting
Assembly tenure ends on 26th November
These centers cover 36 assembly constituencies. This order will be effective from 6 am on November 21 to midnight on November 24. Ahead of the counting of votes, a local party worker in Pune put up a poster showing NCP chief and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar as the next chief minister, although it was later removed. The tenure of the current state assembly ends on November 26.
Image Credit: India_Tv.