Voting underway for 10 LS seats in Maharashtra, 14 in Karnataka

Among the early voters were former Union Home Minister and ex-Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, his wife Ujwala, their legislator daughter Praniti Shinde and other family members who arrived at a polling station to cast exercise their franchise.

Mumbai: Voting started on a peaceful note for 10 Lok Sabha seats spread in Maharashtras Vidarbha and Marathwada regions in the second phase of elections on Thursday morning. The constituencies going to polling are -- Buldhana, Akola, Amravati (SC), Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Osmanabad, Latur (SC) and Solapur (SC). The main contests shall be between ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena and Opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party, besides the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), a Dalit-Muslim front. Among the early voters were former Union Home Minister and ex-Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, his wife Ujwala, their legislator daughter Praniti Shinde and other family members who arrived at a polling station to cast exercise their franchise. Voting also began for 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnatakas central and southern regions amid tight security. "Voting began at 7 a.m. simultaneously in all the 30,164 booths across 14 parliamentary seats of the state under tight security," a poll official told media. The constituencies where polling is underway are Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (SC), Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar (SC), Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar (SC). Of the 2.67-crore electorate in the first phase, 1.35-crore male and 1.32-crore female voters will decide the fate of 241 candidates, including 15 women and 133 Independents in fray for the 14 seats.