Voting Begins for Baramati, Rahuri Assembly Bypolls in Maharashtra
Baramati: Voting began on Thursday morning in Baramati and Rahuri assembly by-polls in Maharashtra. An election official said voting started at 7 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m.
In a wave of sympathy, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, who is contesting from Baramati, appealed to voters to support her in memory of her late husband Ajit Pawar.
The by-poll was necessitated after the then Deputy Prime Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar died in an air crash on January 28. There are 23 candidates in the debate, including Sunetra Pawar.
The total number of registered voters in the constituency is 3.84 lakh.
BJP’s Akshay Kardile is in the fray in the Rahuri bypoll. He is facing NCP (SP) candidate Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Santosh Chalke.
The Rahuri seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile in October last year. Akshay is his son.
The Maharashtra assembly has 288 seats. The ruling Mahayuti alliance has 235 seats (BJP-132, Shiv Sena-57, NCP Ajit-41, allies-5), while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance has 50 seats (Shiv Sena UBT-20, Congress-16, NCP SP-10, others-4).
