Aaditya Thackeray, the family scion who is contesting from Mumbai's Worli, is leading from the constituency with a lead of over 2,000 votes, early leads indicate. If Aaditya wins the election, he will be the first member of the family to represent the people. The Shiv Sena has been projecting him as the chief ministerial face if the NDA returns to power after the next month's assembly polls. In July, Aaditya has launched a state-wide 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' to thank the electorate for their support in the last Lok Sabha polls and to seek their backing for the upcoming Assembly elections.
ALSO READ
- Shiv Sena MLA Sarvankar to contest Maharashtra's Mahim assembly seat explained: Triangular contest awaits Raj Thackeray's son Amit
- After Opposition’s complaint, EC orders immediate transfer of Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla
- Congress releases second list of 23 candidates for Maharashtra Assembly polls
- SC directs Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to use clock symbol with ‘disclaimer’
- Jharkhand assembly polls in two phases; polling in Maharashtra on Nov 20
- New BJP govt to assume power on Oct 17; Nayab Saini likely to continue as Haryana CM
- Shots fired! Kumari Selja's veiled attack against Bhupinder Hooda as BJP hammers Congress once again | Haryana election result
The polling held on Monday saw a voter turnout of 61.13 per cent, a dip from the 63.20 per cent recorded in 2014, the official said. The highest turnout, of 83.93 per cent, was reported in the Karveer assembly seat in Kolhapur, while the lowest was in south Mumbai's upmarket Colaba area at 40.11 per cent. In the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll, also held on Monday, the voter turnout was 67.15 per cent, the official said.
The bypoll was necessitated after NCP MP Udayanraje Bhosale quit the party and his Lok Sabha seat and joined the ruling BJP, which renominated him from the constituency. A total of 3,239 candidates contested from the 288 seats, where the key contest was between the BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP alliances.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who led the BJP campaign in the state was pitted from his home turf Nagpur South-West against Ashish Deshmukh of the Congress. State BJP president and Cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil contested his maiden Assembly poll from Kothrud in Pune. BJP leaders and Cabinet ministers Pankaja Munde and Sudhir Mungantiwar were also in the fray from Parli and Ballarpur seats, respectively.
From the Opposition camp, former chief ministers of Congress Ashok Chavan (Bhokar, Nanded district) and Prithviraj Chavan (Karad South, Satara district) were in the fray. Senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is seeking another term from his home turf Baramati in Pune district.
