Braving the scorching sun, an approximate 62 per cent of the total 1.66 crore voters on Thursday exercised their franchise in a by and large peaceful polling held in 10 lok Sabha constituencies of Vidarbha region, even as the police foiled an attempt by some Maoists to snatch away the ballot boxes from a team of election officials after the polling.
In the only untoward incident that took place in Jambia Ghatta village of Ettapalli area falling under the Maoist-infested Gadchiroli lok Sabha constituency, a group of Naxals opened fire on a team of election officials that was returning to the district headquarters after the polling late in the afternoon.
The police personnel, accompanying the team of election officials, returned fire at the Maoists and foiled their attempt to snatch away the ballot boxes that they we were carrying to the district headquarters with them. “No one was injured in the incident. Ballot boxes are safe,” a senior police official said.
Defying a call for boycott of polls given by the local Maoists, an estimated 61 per cent voters exercised their rights in various parts of Naxal-hit Gadchiroli lok Sabha constituency in south-eastern corner of Maharashtra, bordering the States of Chhatisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Owing to security reasons, the polling had been curtailed in some Naxal hot-bed areas between 7 am and 3 pm.
Undeterred by soaring temperatures ranging from 38 to 42 degrees Celsius in other lok Sabha constituencies of Vidarbha, people came out in large numbers across all the constituencies and voted. There was enthusiasm among the first-time voters — who too reached the booths in large numbers.
People in four villages of Wardha district - Aalgaon, Phelanpur, Shivangaon and Chinholi -boycotted the lok Sabha polls in protest against the lack of basic amenities in their area. No one from these four villages had turned up to cast votes at the polling booths set up in their neighbourhood, till the evening.
The tentative polling percentages released by the Chief Electoral Office, Maharashtra at 8 pm were: Buldhana - 58.66, Akola - 65, Amravati (SC) - 65, Wardha - 61, Ramtek (SC) - 62, Nagpur - 59. Bhandara-Gondiya - 61, Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST) - 61, Chandrapur - 65.10 and Yavatmal-Washim- 60.10.
In ten constituencies that went to poll, there were as many as 201 candidates in the electoral fray.
Among the political heavy weights, whose fate was sealed in ballot boxes in Thursday's polls, are: BJP's former national president Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur), union heavy industries minister and NCP leader Praful Patel (Bhandara-Gondiya), senior sitting Congress MP and former union minister Vilas Muttemwar (Nagpur), former minister Mukul Wasnik (Ramtek), two sitting Congress ministers Shivajirao Moghe (Yavatmal) and Sanjay Deotale (Chandrapur) and late B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar ( Akola).