Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) The first phase of elections in Maharashtra for 10 Lok Sabha seats got underway here Thursday morning with early voters queuing up outside polling stations, officials said.
A total of 201 candidates, including 90 independents, are in the fray and they are vying for attention of around 1.22 crore voters spread in Vidarbha region.
There a total of eight general category constituencies, while one is reserved for Scheduled Tribes and one for Scheduled Castes.
The maximum number of 33 candidates are contesting from Nagpur, while seven - the lowest - are in the fray in Akola.
Out of 201 candidates, there are only 15 women candidates, including two from prominent parties like Nationalist Congress Party and Aam Aadmi Party.
Among the political parties, the maximum number of seats are being contested by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party with 10, followed by the Congress seven and Bharatiya Janata Party six candidates.
Shiv Sena has put up four candidates, NCP has three and CPI has one candidate.
In terms of electorate, the Nagpur constituency with 1.62 million voters is the largest while Bhandara-Gondia with a little over one million voters is the smallest.
The Election Commission has deployed 10 general observers, and 10 election expenditure observers to monitor the first phase of elections.
The 10 constituencies that went to polls Thursday are Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Bhandara-Gondiya, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Nagpur, Ramtek, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim.
Prominent candidates whose fate will be sealed in EVMs include union Minister Praful Patel (NCP), Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar, BJP ex-president Nitin Gadkari, AAP state leader Anjali Damania, former minister and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, state Congress ministers Shivajirao Moghe and Sanjay Deotale.
Then, there are Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar (BRP) - the grandson of B. R. Ambedkar, former model-actress Navneet Kaur Rana (NCP), realtor Gunvant Devpare (BSP) and independent candidate Balasaheb Darade, a former NASA consultant who is supported by Anna Hazare.
One Nation One Election: Constitutional amendment for 'one nation-one election' will be difficult for the government, opposition parties are continuously protesting.
In the current situation, it will be difficult for the BJP-led NDA government to pass the amendments that will be required in the Constitution to turn the concept of one nation-one election into
No Modi wave, says Manik Sarkar
Agartala, April 7 (IANS) There is no "Modi wave" in the country, Tripura Chief Minsiter and Marxist leader Manik Sarkar said Monday, referring to BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra
Peru: 800-year-old 'girlfriend' in the bag of a 26-year-old man, this case of Peru surprised everyone
You were surprised, weren't you? But something similar has happened in Peru. Here an 800-year-old mummy has been recovered from the bag of a 26-year-old food delivery boy. Seeing the mummy as a
Final attack on Corona: PM Modi will address the country tomorrow before the vaccination campaign
The decisive war is beginning in India as a vaccination campaign against the Coronavirus from 16 January ie Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the country on the morning before the
UPA Government Practiced Crony Capitalism: Jaitley
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday said the UPA government was a "practitioner of sadistic economy" and "crony capitalism" and called for a review of all the projects
Tej Pratap Yadav: 31.49 lakh followers on social media; How many photos of Tej Pratap's alleged girlfriend are viral?
Rashtriya Janata Dal national president Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son, Bihar's former minister in Nitish Kumar's government, and Hasanpur's MLA Tej Pratap Yadav is also known as a social media star.
Japanese girl left India and reached Bangladesh, many tweets after misbehavior on Holi in Delhi; Said...
Three accused have been arrested in the case of misbehavior with a Japanese girl while applying color on the day of Holi in Delhi. At the same time, the girl has also made several tweets in this
India-Pakistan relations like 'saas-bahu', says envoy
Kolkata, March 18 (IANS) Likening the "conflict-riddled" relationship between India and Pakistan with that of "saas-bahu" relations, Pakistan's High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Wednesday hoped
Monkeypox Virus: After corona, now there is an increased risk of monkeypox, the virus has now knocked in America, know what are the symptoms
We have not even emerged from the coronavirus that now another virus is troubling us. Monkey virus has now been included in the chain of the spread of this virus. Recently, seven cases of monkeypox
Bengal hospitals refusing swine flu patients: NGO tells Mamata
Kolkata, Feb 28 (IANS) NGO People for Better Treatment (PBT) has termed as "unlawful" the refusal to treat swine flu patients by certain hospitals in West Bengal, and said it would move court if
