Polling for the Maharashtra assembly elections witnessed a 58.22 percent voter turnout till 5 pm, after a slow start, on Wednesday.

Voting for the state assembly started at 7 am concluded at 6 pm. In the 2019 assembly elections, Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 54.53 percent.

Mumbai recorded the lowest turnout at 49.07%. Within the metro, Mahim had the highest turnout with 55.23 percent and Colaba got the lowest turnout with 41.64 percent after 5 rounds, ie, till 5 PM.

Wadala had 52.62% voter turnout, Shivadi 51.7%, Sion-Koliwada 50.54%, Byculla 50.41%, Malabar Hill 50.08%, Worli 47. 5%, Dharavi 46.15% and Mumbadevi 46.1%.  

However, the voter count in Mumbai has surpassed 1 crore, up from 98.95 lakh in the Lok Sabha elections this year.

In Jharkhand,  according to Election Commission data, 67.59 percent of voters cast their ballots across 38 seats till 5 p.m. In the first phase, held on November 13 across 43 seats, voter turnout was recorded at 66.65 percent. Jamtara recorded the highest turnout at 76.16 percent, Maoist-affected Gadchiroli recorded voter turnout at 69.63 percent, and Bokaro at 60.97 percent.

Of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, 234 come under general category, 29 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 25 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). As many as 4,136 candidates are contesting for the Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra, a rise of 27.7%  as compared to 2019 assembly elections.

As many as 1,00,186 polling stations were set up across over 52,789 locations, to accommodate the approximately 9.7 crore eligible voters in the state. This includes 4.97 crore male voters and 4.66 crore female voters. There are 1.85 crore young voters (18-29), including 20.93 lakh first-time voters (18-19).

Among these polling stations, 388 ‘Pink Booths’ set up were managed by women.

The results of single phase assembly elections will be declared on November 23.

From the ruling 'Mahayuti' alliance, the BJP is contesting 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81 seats, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has fielded candidates in 59 constituencies. In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, the Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and the NCP (SP) 86.

Prime minister Narendra Modi urged voters of state to vote in large numbers as polling opened for 288 seats of Maharashtra. “Today, votes will be cast for all the seats of Maharashtra Assembly elections. I urge the voters of the state to be a part of it with full enthusiasm and add to the splendor of the festival of democracy. On this occasion, I appeal to all the youth and women voters to vote in large numbers," he said in a post on X.

The district-wise voting percentage in the state at 5 pm is as follows:

Ahmednagar - 61.95 percent,

Akola - 56.16 percent,

Amravati -58.48 percent,

Aurangabad - 60.83 percent,

Beed - 60.62 percent,

Bhandara - 65.88 percent,

Buldhana-62.84 percent,

Chandrapur- 64.48 percent,

Dhule - 59.75 percent,

Gadchiroli-69.63 percent,

Gondiya -65.09 percent,

Hingoli - 61.18 percent,

Jalgaon - 54.69 percent,

Jalna- 64.17 percent,

Kolhapur- 67.97 percent,

Latur _ 61.43 percent,

Mumbai City- 49.07 percent,

Mumbai Suburban-51.76 percent,

Nagpur - 56.06 percent,

Nanded - 55.88 percent,

Nandurbar- 63.72 percent,

Nashik -59.85 percent,

Osmanabad- 58.59 percent,

Palghar- 59.31 percent,

Parbhani- 62.73 percent,

Pune - 54.09 percent,

Raigad - 61.01 percent,

Ratnagiri- 60.35 percent,

Sangli - 63.28 percent,

Satara - 64.16 percent,

Sindhudurg - 62.06 percent,

Solapur -57.09 percent,

Thane - 49.76 percent,

Wardha - 63.50 percent,

Washim -57.42 percent,

Yavatmal - 61.22 percent