Amid complaints of long-winding voters' queues, defective EVMs at some places and inordinate delay in the polling process in Mumbai, a low 48.66 per cent of total 2.47 crore voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm in the fifth and final polling in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies — including half a dozen seats in the country's commercial Capital — in Maharashtra on Monday.
On a day when all political parties complained about the delay in the voting process, the "maximum city" bore the major as Mumbai south — which has over the years been known for low voter turnout — recorded the lowest 44.22 per cent of polling till 5 pm, while Mumbai north-west witnessed a maximum of 49.79 per cent polling among the six city constituencies.
The equally discouraging polling percentages recorded by four other constituencies in Mumbai are as follows: Mumbai north — 46.91%, Mumbai north-central -47.32%, Mumbai north-east-48.67% and Mumbai south-Central —48.26 %.
Except in Dindori (57.06%), Palghar (54.32%) and Nashik (51.16%), the situation was more or less the same in other constituencies that went to pollos on Monday. The polling percentages of other constituencies are: Bhiwandi (48.89%), Dhule (48.81 %), Kalyan (41.07%) and Thane (45.38%)
Among the 13 constituencies that went polls on Monday, the lowest polling voter turn-out of 41.07 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in Kalyan constituency where Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde's son Dr Shrikant Shinde — who is seeking election to Lok Sabha for the third consecutive term — is taking on Vishal Darekar Rane of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
As against the average polling percentage of 48.66 witnessed till 5 pm, the final polling (till 6 pm) may go up to a maximum of 58 per cent which is not healthy voter turn-out witnessed in the fifth and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls. This is considering that all the six Mumbai seats and neighbouring four seats in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were up for grabs for the major contending parties in the keenly contested final phase of the polls.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is taking on the Uddhav Thackeray headed rival Sena in all the six seats it is contesting, while its bigger brother BJP has fielded candidates in the remaining seven seats.
Apart from having a battle royale with the Shinde Sena in six constituencies, the Sena (UBT) is contesting two more seats, while allies - Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP have put up candidates in three and two constituencies respectively. The six most watched out constituencies where the two Senas are fighting each other are: Nashik, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai north-west, Mumbai south-central and Mumbai south.
Meanwhile, all political parties complained about the long queues and sluggish voting witnessed in the six constituencies in Mumbai and four neighboring constituencies in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray charged that the polling process was delayed deliberately by the election officials.
Talking to media persons here, Uddhav said: "There were long queues in a majority of polling booths. The polling went on in a sluggish manner all through the day. I have a strong reason to believe that the election officials are sub-serving the interests of the ruling BJP. The BJP is mortally scared of losing the elections. No wonder the election authorities are conducting themselves in a partial manner to help the BJP".
The Opposition MVA constituent NCP's national general secretary Dr. Jitendra Awhad alleged that the election process was being 'deliberately slowed down' by the polling officials.
"I visited some polling stations in and around Thane. There were massive queues of people who were waiting for three-four hours for their turn. But the elections officials were going about their duties in a casual manner, putting the voters to considerable inconvenience and delaying the polling process," Awhad said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray said that in many polling stations, especially the ones located in lower-middle class areas, there was a lack of adequate seating arrangements for voters. Water was not available for the voters to drink. "Many voters, especially senior citizens, left the polling booths without voting. In one of the booths, one voter had fainted because of the heat," he said.
The polling process was delayed in some booths of localities in Mankhurd, Tardeo ( both in Mumbai), Bhiwandi and Dombivli (Thane), Satpur (Nashik).
In a related development, Maharashtra deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said that he had brought the issue of delayed polling process to the notice of Election Commission of India (ECI). Fadnavis said that he has asked the polling authorities to ensure speeding up the voting process to enable the maximum number of people to cast their votes.
Union Minister and BJP's Mumbai North seat candidate Piyush Goyal also complained about the 'sluggish election process' which he said had annoyed the several of the voters in the Magathane area of his constituency and quite a few of them had left the polling booths without voting.
Key contests are being witnessed in the constituencies like Mumbai north, where Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal is pitted against Bhushan Patil of the Congress, in Kalyan where chief minister Eknath Shinde's son Dr Shrikant Shinde -who is seeking election to Lok Sabha for the third consecutive term -- is taking on Vishal Darekar Rane of the Sena (UBT) and in Thane where Shinde's close aide Naresh Mhaske is slugging it out against two-time Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Rajan Vichare.
Renowned lawyer Ujwal Nikam of the BJP-who functioned as the Special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai case and contributed to the hanging of the lone convicted accused Mohammed Ajmal Kasab— is fighting Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Varsha Gaikwad.