New Delhi: Lakhs and lakhs of voters in Maharashtra and Haryana came out in strong numbers on Monday to cast their right to adult franchisee for the legislative assembly elections in the respective states. 288 seats of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and 90 Assembly seats in Haryana were up for the taking as voters in the two states sealed the fortunes of more than 4400 candidates who are contesting across their respective legislative constituencies.


The voter turnout in Haryana and Maharashtra stood at 65% and 60.5%, respectively (till 6 pm) . The polling in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections ended at 6 pm, baring a few constituencies in which glitches of EVM were reported.

In addition to the assembly polls in these two states, assembly bypolls were held in 51 assembly seats spread across the country. In addition to the assembly seats, two Lok Sabha constituencies of Samastipur in Bihar and Satara in Maharashtra went to polls as well.

Out of the total 4400 candidates, 1169 candidates are in the fray for Haryana Legislative Assembly while 3237 are battling it out hard to get book their place in the Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Assembly Elections

Polling began on Monday morning in all 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra where 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray. Prominent candidates in the fray are Chief Minister Fadnavis and his predecessors from Congress, Ashok Chavan, who is in fray from Bhokar in Nanded district, and Prithviraj Chavan seeking re-election from Karad South in Satara district.

Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, is contesting from Worli in Mumbai. The 29-year-old is the first from the Thackeray family to make debut in electoral politics.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is eyeing a return to power in Maharashtra under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, is contesting 164 seats out of the total 288 seats, while its traditional ally,the Shiv Sena has fielded candidates on 126 seats. On the other hand, the Congress has fielded 147 candidates and the ally National Congress Party (NCP) 121.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP won 122 seats, the Shiv Sena-63, the Congress-42 and the NCP-41.

Haryana Assembly Elections

In Haryana, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fought on all 90 constituencies, with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar setting a target of winning 75 seats out of 90. BJP's traditional rival Congress fielded candidates in all 90 seats. Meanwhile the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is contesting on 81, and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on 88 seats.

As many as 1,169 candidates including 105 women of various political parties are contesting the election in Haryana.

According to the Election Commission data, there are 89,42,668 voters who fall in this category, which forms a major chunk of over 1.83 eligible voters in the state. There are over 3.82 lakh voters, many of them first-timers, who fall in the age group of 18-19 years while over 40 lakh are 20-29 years of age.